Lost Soul
by Lady Tomboy
Summary: [SxS] Princess Sakura lost her memory and is raised by a gang. Who and why would anyone want her dead? When Syaoran somehow gets involved he is faced with a tough choice...
1. Prologue

_**Lost Soul**_

_**Prologue: **_

**_AN: _**I changed the summary since I wasn't happy with the old one. Anyways enjoy the chapter any feedback is always welcome. Excuse me for any errors you encounter in the story, just keep in mind that English is not my first language, but I do try ;)

**Disclaimer:** I knew I forgot something the first time I uploaded this thing… Anyways don't own any of it besides the characters I made up (poor them) Mumbles something 'bout the dog eating the ownership's papers….

* * *

A horrendous war raged through the lands of the Kinomoto Kingdom. Peasants were running for their lives as the last line of defence tried to hold their ground against the overwhelming forces of their opponents, knowing that they were the last hope for their King and Queen.

Many people died that day and the ones who managed to survive fled to neighbouring countries hoping against hope that they would offer them a place to stay.

Inside the castle the royal guards were protecting the chambers of the King and Queen Kinomoto. The Queen was desperately crying, holding her youngest daughter in her arms who was crying herself. Their eldest son Touya not knowing what to do stood quietly next to his father.

"What should we do?" the Queen sobbed looking at her husband whom in turn resumed his pacing. "We can't just let them die! They're children for god's sake! The soldiers won't be able to hold the enemy off for long and once they break through the royal guard won't make a huge difference either!"

In her desperation the Queen had started to yell, even though she knew that wouldn't help their situation any either. Big tears continued to roll down her cheek as she looked at both her children.

Touya went over to his mother trying to comfort her but once she embraced him as well, he too shed a few tears, which he quickly whipped away, not wanting to show his father such weakness.

Finally the King stopped his pacing and, with a grave face, looked at his wife. "There is only one thing we can do now." and with that said he called in one of the royal guards and whispered something in his ear.

At once the guard saluted and dashed out of the room to fulfil the King's wish.

The battle cries were coming closer and closer as the King kept looking back and forth at the door where the guard had walked through only moments before.

Not much later the guard returned with another person. The Queen recognised him as Clow Reed the royal advisor of her husband whom had managed to save their Kingdom more than once.

"Reed my friend, do you know why I have summoned you?" inquired King Kinomoto.

"Yes your majesty, it would be my honor." The man replied as he slightly bowed his head to the King.

"Very well," said the King "then please allow me a moment with my wife." and without waiting for a reply he turned around and faced his wife.

After several moments of talking silently he said "It will be for the best this way. He's the only one I trust with such a task. I am sure he won't disappoint us. He will do whatever necessary to ensure their safety."

The Queen, not being able to hold back her tears any longer, burst into a new set of tears all over again. "My babies!" she cried falling to her knees hugging them both once more.

"Come on now dear, you want them to be safe don't you?" the King asked gently putting a comforting hand on her shoulder.

At that moment one of the royal guards burst to the door announcing more bad news. "They managed to break our final line of defence your majesty, they're coming!" he yelled before adding "Please get yourself into safety, we'll do whatever necessary to protect you." and left the room to assist his men outside.

The Queen let go of Touya and after taking one final glance at the young girl let go of her as well.

"Son," the King said making the young Touya turn around to face his father "whatever happens to us, remember this day and come back some day to claim your rightful title. But far more importantly, protect your sister, promise me."

The boy nodded trying to be brave for his parents and grabbed his crying sister by the hand as he followed Clow out of the door and into a secret passage way to get out of the castle.

"No mammy, daddy!" the young girl screamed trying to break free of the strong grip her brother had on her.

"Don't worry," he told her trying to comfort her a little "it will be alright."

Without a word Clow turned around and picked the crying girl up into his arms. "Come on now Princess, we're going to play a game." he gave a meaningful look at Touya who followed suit. "We're hiding for the guards and you have to be as quiet as possible." he told her putting his finger against his lip with a shushing sound.

The little girl quickly dried her tears and smiled a little at the man, and thankfully quieted down.

It didn't take them long to get away from the palace. Touya managed to keep up with the brisk pace of Clow-san and every now and then spared a glance back at his former home.

They had safely left the grounds and by now the only thing that was still visible were the flames engulfing the castle.

"Mom, dad, don't worry I'll keep my promise." he whispered quietly trying to stifle a sob.

"Follow me young Prince." said Clow as he took another turn moving further and further away from the castle. "Don't look back, it will only be more difficult to move on." he told him not looking at Touya's face.

* * *

They had been moving from town to town for a few weeks now. It was hard to accept for Touya that his parents were gone, and adapting to life as a peasant wasn't easy for the young Prince either. But none the less it only took him a few days with a little help from Clow-san.

They were in a small town which wasn't too fond of strangers. There had been some trouble with robbers in the town recently and ever since then they had been weary against strangers. It wasn't hard to understand, but even so they needed to make some money in order to eat.

Ever since that day, Clow-san had been looking after them, finding a new job in every town to provide the two of them with food before they moved on to the next City.

What had happened in Tomoeda (Kinomoto Kingdom) was still big news in the local towns and therefore it wasn't safe for them to stay in one place longer than necessary. Because what would happen if anyone recognised the two children or even Clow-san himself? That was a risk they couldn't take.

That evening Clow-san returned to the place where he left Touya and his sister Sakura with empty hands. "I'm sorry Touya, but there is nothing I can do. We'll have to move tonight. If we walk through the night we can be at the next town tomorrow morning."

"But what about my sister?" asked Touya "She's only four, she doesn't understand why we've been living the way we do." Clow-san looked at the hopeful eyes of the young girl, picked her up, walked back into the town and knocked on the first door he saw.

Touya had followed him and when the door opened he saw an old women looking down at him. He smiled up at her shyly before she looked away at Clow.

"I didn't mean to intrude," said Clow-san "but do you have a little bit to eat for these kids? We are going to the next town and won't get there until dawn, and I'm afraid this young girl won't be able to go that far on an empty stomach."

Without a word the woman closed the door on them. Touya sighed and was about to walk away when the door opened again and the woman gave them a bit of rice. Just enough for Sakura and Touya.

Clow smiled knowingly, yes pity always worked on elder people.

Touya on his turn had a bright smile on his face and walked over to the woman looking hopefully at her. She smiled warmly back at him "Here for you and your sister, now go." she said as she gave him the rice and closed the door once more.

Clow-san led them back to the edge of the town where the kids sat down against a tree to eat the rice.

After finishing their dinner Clow-san led the kids into the forest. It was all he could do at the moment to keep them safe. Well as safe as two little kids and an elderly man could be at night in a dark forest.

The next day at dawn Sakura was still sleeping soundly. It hadn't taken her long the night before to fall asleep in the arms of Clow-san, as they made their way towards a new day, a new chance, and a new town.

Once they had finally arrived at the village, Clow-san had managed to find them an old shed, in which they could spend a few days to recuperate, before they had to continue their journey towards Clow-san's old manor.

The people that had offered them their shed had little children themselves, which Touya and Sakura could stay with while Clow-san was out doing what he always did.

Not many days later some soldiers passed through the town they were currently staying in. They were originally passing through, until one of them noticed some children playing on the street.

"Hey, would you look at that." he said pointing at the kids. "I haven't had anything fun to do since we conquered the Kinomoto Castle."

His fellow arms-men all nodded in agreement and got up. They made their way over to the children who were playing tag.

Sakura who was 'it' was running around trying to catch her older brother Touya, who kept taunting her, and called her a monster from time to time to annoy her a little bit more. The two were so wrapped up in their sibling thing, that they didn't hear the other children telling them to be careful. In fact, they didn't even notice, until Touya finally bumped into something rather hard and was lifted off the ground by his collar.

Sakura gasped and didn't move from her spot. "Run!" was all Touya managed to say to his little sister, before the guard shook him back and forth roughly.

"Shut up you brat!" was all he said smacking him across his cheek.

Sakura didn't understand what was going on, and looked worriedly at her brother as she heard him make strange sounds. "Oni-san are you alright?" she asked while she approached the big scary man, who was holding her brother up in the air, slowly.

"Stay away!" Touya yelled before he got smacked in the face again.

"I think we have a tough guy here." the soldier said and turned around to his friends with a smirk on his face. "He wants to defend his little girlfriend, how brave." he mocked.

The other soldiers laughed when Touya was thrown to the ground harshly and ended up at Sakura's feet. The little girl seeing her big brother get hurt, started to cry and on a whim, kicked against the boots of the soldier and yelled "You big meanie!"

"Don't!" yelled Touya only seconds too late. Sakura too, was picked up and given a good rough shake by the guard, before being tossed back at Touya who tried his best to catch her.

"Sakura!" he shouted before he realized it was a big mistake.

The soldiers who had been laughing stopped abruptly and looked straight back to where the kids were now.

Touya had taken Sakura by the hand and was now running away towards the forest.

"Say guys, didn't those kids look sort of familiar?" one of the guards asked his comrades still looking at the place where the kids had been only moments ago.

"Hum now that you mention it, they kind of do… now, where have I seen those faces before?" he asked no one in particular, immersing in deep thought as he put his hand against his chin.

"Sakura, Sakura, Sakura, I'm sure I know that name as well." said another also starting to think.

Then their Captain suddenly yelled: "You idiots! Get those kids! They're the heirs to the Kinomoto castle!" _"At least what once was their castle" _he thought mischievously.

When he noticed that none of his men had started the pursuit yet, he sighed and chased after the kids himself, his men of course following him as they couldn't very well stay behind.

Touya was trying his hardest to stay out of the hands off the soldiers. He should have been more careful! Now what were they going to do? He spotted a cave and without a second thought, rushed inside and didn't stop until they couldn't see where they were going.

Sakura was still crying and this way the soldiers would have found them in no time. There was only one thing he could think off. He would run back towards the entrance and after deciding that, he told Sakura to be very quiet until he came back.

Touya started to run until he felt something cling to his leg. Looking down he saw his little sister with big pleading eyes looking up at him. "Don't go." she said snivelling.

He unhooked her arms and legs from the death grip around his own leg, and kneeled down looking at her. "Sakura, listen to me. You don't want the evil guys to find you right?" he said softly. "Now don't worry, I'll lead them away from you while you stay here, and then I'll come back to you as soon as possible. Clow-san will be able to help us." he told her confidently.

And with his mind set, he saw his little sister crawling away behind a big rock, and then she stuck her head out from behind it to watch her brother leave her there, all alone in the dark.

Sakura had no idea how long she'd been hiding behind that rock, but she was scared and wanted to go find her brother and Clow-san. That wasn't the only thing, but she was also starting to get hungry, all the running, playing and more running thanks to the chase, would do that to you.

"Touya?" she called out softly into the darkness. When she received no answer she tried again a bit louder than the first time "Touya!" still nothing.

Carefully she got out of her hiding spot and, while holding her hand against the wall, she tried to find her way out of the cave. She was getting cold, and not to mention very scared, being all alone in the dark cave.

Every now and then when she interrupted some bats in their sleep, she'd scream as they flew over her head and luckily away from her. She was very grateful for that.

After several hours, she reached the entrance and looked around her. It was already dark and she couldn't see her brother anywhere. As if being all alone in the forest wasn't bad enough, the scary noises all around her sure made it worse.

She took a few steps out in the open and then suddenly spotted her brother, lying motionless on the floor. She run over to him as fast as her little legs would carry her, and dropped on her knees next to his still form.

"Oni-chan! Oni-chan!" she yelled again placing both hands against his chest as she started to shake, trying to wake him up. "Wake up, I'm scared!" she yelled again fresh tears spilling from her eyes freely.

"You make too much noise little girl." a voice snarled at her from behind and before she knew what was happening, her world turned black.

* * *

**AN**: I went back to fix some of the very stupid errors I made in this chapter lol. It's a miracle no one complained O.o Anyways thanks for reading my story, and I hope you enjoyed it :) Any reviews are very much appreciated ) 


	2. Germs!

_Chapter 1: Germs!_

**Disclaimer: **Check prologue

**AN: **Here's the next chapter.

ShiroKuro you said that it was maybe a little fast right? LoL the thing is I was afraid I'd hmm drag things out too much if I'd write more there, this chapter is a bit longer though hope you like it.

Rynx-Too-Genki: as you can see I actually did come up with a new sum thnx for the hint though.

Anyways without any further babbling from here enjoy the chapter people!

* * *

After the destruction of the Kinomoto Lands, the castle had been sealed off from the public. The massive gates had been closed and the rumours had started to spread around. Everyone, no matter where they lived, had heard about the tragedy that befell the Kinomoto family.

The person responsible for it all, laughed at the madness of it all. Oh how delighted he had been when his captain returned and reported to him, that the King and Queen were dead.

"What about the children?" he had asked his captain, who replied that they assumed to have been killed in the fire that had destroyed the entire west wing of the castle.

"Finally!" he yelled brightly, it had been the best news he'd received ever since the day he heard that his wife (or the bitch as he called her) had been killed in a robbery. He had given word of a huge celebration and even made it a national celebration day. He was a cold man indeed.

"What about their corpses? Did you bring the prove?" he had asked, at which the captain clapped his hands, and the two large oak doors opened to admit several soldiers carrying two bodies covered up in a bed sheet.

The man got up and looked at the disfigured bodies. It was grotesque to say the least. The captain then waved two more soldiers over whom were carrying two bags. They turned the bags over and the heads of King and Queen Kinomoto fell out on the floor, leaving a bloody mess.

"My Lord, what do you want us to do with them?" he asked bowing.

"Do what you do best captain." the man replied smirking. He looked like he was about to get up and dance around from sheer happiness, when he suddenly stopped and looked back at the two heads decorating his floor.

"You assume the kids are dead? You didn't bring back proof?" he asked the captain indignantly.

"We haven't found their bodies, but most of the place was already burned down by the time we reached the King and Queen's chambers." The captain said bowing deeper, if that was even possible.

"That won't do, I need proof. I can't have that little girl interfere with my plans! I need to know if she's dead. Now go and bring me back good news." He said and with a wave of his hand, he dismissed the Captain and everyone else still present.

* * *

"This one will do quite nicely." said a man with dark hair as he looked at his newly acquired possession.

"What's your name kiddo?" he asked looking down at the little girl. The only thing distinguishing her from a boy however was her hair and that wasn't a lot to go on, he just had to guess and hope he was right.

"S… Sa..Saku" she said hesitantly, not sure of what this man wanted from her at all.

"How did you end up here?" he asked her again, while he led her back to his place.

"Uhm… I .. I don't remember." she said eventually, looking like a little lost puppy.

"What 'bout parents? Or any other family?" he asked looking down at the little girl. He guessed she was about 4 or 5 years old, and by the looks of things, she had lost her memory, which in his book was only a good thing. That way no one would come looking for her.

At his question Saku shrugged her shoulders and went back to looking at her feet. She didn't know what was going on, but this man seemed nice enough.

"Well then, I don't usually do this, but I can offer you a place to stay." he said already congratulating himself in his mind. Oh yeah this was going to be a lot easier than he had originally thought.

She looked up at the man, at first scared but soon a little smile appeared on her face and she nodded fervently.

He smiled knowing he had made a good bargain buying this little kid. After all she could still be shaped freely.

"This," he said pointing at an old warehouse "is where I live, and from now on you will too." He whistled and suddenly all around them faces were popping up out of their hiding places chiming "welcome back boss!"

He smiled and looked down at Saku, who was currently hiding behind his leg. "Don't worry kiddo, you'll fit right in here." He said smiling genuine for the first time.

Saku had a thoughtful look on her face all of a sudden and looked up at the man. "Uhm…" she said softly.

"What's the matter?" he asked looking down at the little girl.

"What's your name?" she said then looking up curiously, one hand still clamped around his pants from trying to get his attention.

"Haha, you're right, I totally forgot to introduce myself!" he said laughing and then continued. "the name's Takashi, Kai Takashi, but you can call me Kai."

* * *

2 years had passed and Saku was still living with Kai and the gang. By now she was allowed to go out to the market on her own from time to time. It was only 5 minutes away from where they lived and since everyone knew everyone, there was always someone to look after her.

She strolled down the market, in hopes to find something to do. Since she was bored out of her mind, she was checking out what the market people were selling, and what sort of people would come and buy at their stand.

"_Ah finally."_ she thought, spotting what she had been looking for. _"Hmm that sure smells good." _she thought longingly and took another deep breath.

Slowly she approached a bread stand and sniffed at all the different kinds of bread displayed to the possible buyers. A man saw the girl and smiled down at her. "Well little miss, see something you like?" he asked her friendly.

Saku smiled and nodded but didn't make a move to buy anything. When another customer approached the stand, the man moved over to the Lady and completely forgot about Saku.

"Madam what will it be?" he asked her politely gesturing to all the bread laying there. It wasn't for another few seconds until he finally noticed something wrong. One of his precious breads was missing, and the little girl from only moments ago, was now running for her life with the bread partially tucked away in her shirt.

"Get back here you little brat!" the man yelled and was about to give chase, when the woman held up her hand to stop him.

"I'll pay for it." she said shortly waiting for the man to turn around and get back to help her.

The man stopped dead in his tracks, and with an astonished look on his face, turned around to face the woman. "You sure madam? Because you don't have to pay me for that bread. That little brat stole it and once I get my hands on her, she'll wish she had never even been born!" he ended in a rage.

"I'll pay for it, no need to go chasing that kid. She will be long gone as it is." The woman said calmly. With that said she took her own purchase, paid the man for the bread and for her own stuff, and walked away. But not without whishing the man a good day.

Saku was now panting hard, as she had run as hard as she could for the past 10 minutes. She looked back over her shoulder every now and then to make sure the man hadn't followed her.

Saku walked over towards a fountain in the middle of a square and sat down on the edge of it. She took out the bread, which was now a little crushed, and started on her well deserved breakfast. She didn't really understand why the man was so angry at her, after all she was only hungry right?

Shaking her head Saku decided to enjoy her meal instead of pondering over strange things such as the man's odd behaviour. The sooner she was done eating, the better. After all the day was still young and there was a lot she still had to do, playing tag, hide and seek, and more important things.

By the time it was starting to get dark outside, Saku returned home, to find the whole gang up and waiting for her.

As soon as they saw her walk in, they jumped up, grabbed Saku, and dragged her over to the sitting area, where they usually talked about important things.

Saku who didn't know what was going on, was so surprised that she squeaked when they grabbed her. She soon quiet down when she saw Kai walk in and take a seat. That seemed to be the sign for everyone to shut up, as they all turned their attention expectantly towards Kai.

Kai looked around at his gang and, when his eyes landed on Saku he smirked. "I see you finally decided to come home." he said not without sarcasm. "We've been waiting for you."

Saku swallowed as all eyes were on her. Oh she messed up big this time. "I'm sorry!" she said getting up and bowing to Kai who, …. started to laugh?

Surprised at his reaction she sat back down and looked at Kai, waiting for his laughter to subdue. When he was finally done, he cleared his throat before speaking up again.

"Today is a very important day for you, Saku." he said looking at the little girl intently. "As a matter of fact, it is a very important day for all of us!" he exclaimed waving his hands around the room.

Saku seemed to be the only one who didn't know what this big day was about, since all the other guys around her cheered.

"Saku, tomorrow you will get your first job!" he said happily waiting for the girl to burst from excitement. When he noticed the confused look on her face he decided to elaborate.

"Tomorrow one of the guys will take you with him and show you how to do your job." he said.

This time she did cheer. She jumped up excitedly and ran over to where Kai sat, and jumped him in the arms giving him a tight hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" she said very hyper.

He remembered how, every time they would go out to earn some money, she'd be so disappointed that she couldn't come along because she was too small. He would never admit it, but he had really grown fond of the little girl. After taking care of her for about 2 yrs now, she had become the little sister he never had, and she on her turn had gained a whole lot of older brothers.

That evening Saku sighed contently as she was trying to get some sleep. Tomorrow was a big day for her. Finally they gave her the opportunity to pay them back a little, for taking care of her all this time. She had to give it her all and that's exactly what she was planning to do. If only she wasn't so nervous …

The next morning Saku had only just fallen asleep when Kai came to wake her up.

"Hey kiddo, had a good night sleep? Today's the big day." he said smiling slightly at the dishevelled looking girl.

For a moment she looked lost not at all knowing what he was talking about but that didn't last long, for the next moment she jumped out of bed and rushed off to get cleaned, and dressed up.

Kai slightly wondered how the usual sleepy girl could all of a sudden be so bright at an early morning but figured it was the excitement.

With a smirk he left her 'room' to give her some privacy. She may still be a little girl, but women were women, and eventually she'd grow up to be one. It had taken some time to get the other guys used to having a girl around, but with Kai's natural ability to make sure they remembered the most important things, it only took a few beatings for some of them to get the hang of it. They eventually learned how to tread a lady with respect (which was a foreign thing to them). Now that were sweet memories if he had to name some.

"Hey girl, what took you so long?" Taco asked smirking at Saku who was currently trying to regain her breath from rushing all the way down to the sitting area.

"Alright guys listen up. Since she's new to this, watch out for her and make sure things run as smooth as they always do." Kai said looking around the room to find pretty much everyone nod their approval.

"Saku you will be tagging along with Shino. Watch his every move and memorize them. Don't leave his side and, I never thought I'd ever say this but, listen to his orders and actually follow them. That's the only way we'll get this job done."

Saku nodded and made sure she caught everything Kai was saying. She couldn't afford to screw this up, not when they finally thought she was old enough to join them.

Kai explained their mission and gave each and everyone the instructions they were to follow. "Now as long as everyone does as I just explained everything will go according to plan. Any questions?" he asked and without waiting for a reply he continued. "Good everyone knows what to do, now go out and do it. May your eyes be keen and your reflexes fast, good luck." And with that said everyone left to their assigned posts, waiting for the 'go' signal from Kai.

* * *

"That's our cue." whispered Shino to Saku, who didn't even get the time to ask what he meant, as Shino grabbed her arm. He signalled the others that were with their group to go on ahead and do what they were supposed to as he pulled Saku along.

"Where are we going?" Saku asked looking over her shoulder several times to see that the others weren't even with them anymore.

"Shht! Right now we have to be very quiet." Shino whispered to her as he put a finger to his mouth.

Saku gasped and closed her mouth right away, to make sure no more sounds would escape from her.

They crouched low in an alley to catch their breath before they continued to run from building to building, hiding behind trees and what not, until they reached their destination.

"What are we going to do here?" Saku whispered trying to be as quiet as possible.

Shino sighed and, seeing she wouldn't be able to keep her curiosity in check unless he gave her some information, motioned her to come closer so he could whisper in her ear.

Eagerly she moved her ear closer to Shino's mouth as to hear what he had to say, but in her enthusiasm, bumped her head against his lip.

Shino inhaled sharply as he reached for his lip to find it bleeding.

Saku looked guiltily at Shino and was about to start crying for hurting him, when he silenced her by placing his hand over her mouth and pulling her around the corner of a building. "Shht, someone's coming!" he whispered to Saku who gasped and quieted down immediately.

By the time the woman had passed their hiding place he removed his hand and they both sighed with relief.

"I'm so sorry!" she said her lip starting to tremble again upon seeing the damage she'd done.

"Oh don't worry 'bout it, it's nothing." He whispered rolling his eyes at her concerned and guilty look. "Come on we have a job to do." he said and lead her to their destination.

They stopped at the back of a big mansion and Shino looked around to make sure no one was around. "Okay now listen up squirt, you're the only one who fits through this hole. I need you to crawl in there and find the nearest window, and open it up for me so I can come in."

Saku nodded and was about to climb in the dark hole when she turned around with big eyes. "There aren't any spiders or rats in there are there?" she asked looking horrified at the thought.

Shino mentally smacked himself for telling Saku all those scary bedtime stories. "Just trust me okay? Do I look like I would ever let anything happen to you?" he asked her earnestly.

She was about to point out how last time he had said the exact same thing to her, he ended up bringing a grumpy Kai to an old abandoned house, which Shino had left Saku in. He had thought it would be a cool idea to take her to an old house and tell scary stories with some of the other guys, but she ended up being so afraid that she was screaming and crying, and she didn't shut up until Kai finally arrived to 'chase away the evil ghosts' (or also known as his idiotic companions).

"Erm, okay never mind that." He thought for a second and got the perfect idea. "Would you really think Kai would send you along with me to look after you if he didn't think you would be safe?" he asked her smiling sweetly, hoping to convince her.

Thankfully she caved and soon smiled brightly at him before turning around and crawling into the dark hole.

"_The least thing he could have done was give me something so I could see where I was going." _she thought muttering something about stupid boys and not using their brains, as she slowly and carefully made her way through the tunnel.

By now her knees and hands were cold and wet, as she wondered where the stupid tunnel ended. Saku had always been scared in the dark, and without any light this was the scariest thing she had ever done in her short little life.

After a few turns she could finally see some light, signalling the end of the tunnel, when her hand touched something soft and warm. The thing suddenly squeaked loudly and moved away as fast as it could.

On the other hand Saku screamed loudly and crawled away from whatever it was, as fast as she could.

Still waiting outside, Shino heard the scream and anxiously waited for something to happen. He looked around, the house was supposed to be empty so that was the least of his problems. However people who might have passed by the house at that very moment, could have heard her scream and if they came to check things out, their mission would be screwed.

Shino held his breath praying no one heard. A minute passed and no one (besides a few birds) had reacted to Saku's scream, which he was very grateful for.

Saku hurried to find a window and opened the first one she saw. She stuck her head out and looked anxiously around for any sign of Shino but saw none. "Shino, Shino!" she hissed hoping he heard her.

Shino sighed in relief as he heard her calling his name and went to find the window she'd opened.

"Uhm Saku, do you think you can open a bigger window? One I can actually fit through?" he finally asked.

Saku looked at Shino, then at the window and once again back at Shino with a thoughtful expression. Then she shrugged and went to the next window, closest to where she was.

She looked around and saw a wooden chair. Ah yes, that was perfect. It should be able to help her get to the window. Saku was so caught up in dragging the chair towards the window that she failed to notice a pair of eyes burning at the back of her head.

"Hurry up!" Shino called from outside the window.

Saku poked her head out of that window as well before moving out of the way so Shino could enter. "Now what do we do?" she asked looking around the house in awe.

It belonged to a rich family, that thing was for sure. Saku was admiring the house while Shino got around to doing his job.

"Hold this." he said handing her a bag. When he heard the soft thud he turned around "Yo squirt!" he said drawing her attention away from a few expensive looking plates on the wall.

Shaking her head Saku looked expectantly up at Shino and said "huh?"

Shino rolled his eyes at the girl and said "Take the bag and follow me, okay?" and without waiting for a reply he took off.

Saku picked the bag up from it's position on the floor and followed him around. She watched him open doors and take things out, which he threw over his shoulders at her, leaving her in the difficult position to try and catch everything without dropping, or breaking anything.

"Listen up squirt." he started to say but stopped when she kicked him looking angrily up at him.

"Don't call me squirt!" she yelled but decided to listen anyways.

"Ouch! Now listen to me." he said rubbing his offended leg looking a little grumpy. "What we do here is very important. We take the things that are the most valuable to people and sell them later on to other people who need them more than these rich people do, and in return they pay us good money so we can survive for another while."

Saku nodded. This wasn't so hard to understand. She actually knew what he meant!

Shino continued on rummaging through the house as Saku admired it. "Now," said Shino turning around as he took the bag from her grip. "you search those rooms," he said pointing down a long hall way. "and I'll go over here." he said pointing in the other direction. He gave her a bag and waited for her to nod and go.

"One more thing." he said as Saku stopped and turned around. "If anything happens, get the hell out of here."

"How will I know when something is going on?" she asked looking a little scared now.

"Oh don't worry squirt, you'll know when it happens." he winked at her and left to his side of the house.

Saku gulped but went on anyways. She walked into the first room and looked around for something that would be valuable to people. "Hmm, what would be valuable to me …" she wondered a lout.

Her eyes fell on a painting at the wall. It was from a family smiling happily at the artist who had obviously painted it. All were smiling except for one little boy.

"_Why wouldn't he be smiling?" _she thought to herself. _"He looks sorta familiar though …" _

With that in mind she continued to look for valuable things, whatever they may be. The guys could have at least told her what she was supposed to look for.

There were all sorts of pretty things around here but she didn't know if they were valuable or not. Then she looked back at the picture. That woman also looked familiar. She had a fan in her right hand, and a very nice and expensive looking necklace around her throat. Oh right! That was the woman from the bread stand the other day!

Saku's eye fell on something laying next to a bed. "Ahah!" she exclaimed picking it up and putting it in the bag. She looked down at the bag in her hands with pride. "So that's what the guys were talking about when they meant something valuable!"

With renewed hope she looked through the room some more and left for the next one. It looked like it belonged to a girl, if the pink colours was anything to go by. Saku felt right at home, after all pink was her favourite colour.

After 3 more rooms and more valuable items in her bag she went to the final room. It wasn't girlish like the other rooms had been. _"hmm, must be that boy's room." _she thought and started to look around the room.

Saku was still looking around when she heard something behind her. She froze and didn't know what to do. She felt something against her leg and even though she had promised herself not to scream, she did.

"Aaaaaaaaah!"

Within a few seconds Shino was in the room shouting. "What happened! Are you hurt? Who did it to you! I'll kill him!"

When he finally looked around the room he noticed Saku on the floor, and burst out laughing.

"I see someone made a friend!" he exclaimed looking at the girl lying on the floor, too scared to even move, with a big dog licking her face and wagging its tail.

"Saku, don't ever scream like that again while we're on a mission. It draws too much attention to what we're doing." Shino lectured after he had helped the girl up from her position on the floor.

Saku grumbled a bit about not knowing what to do with a big dog like that and blushed a nice shade of red.

Shino, who was still laughing and making fun of her, went back to the last room so they could get the hell out of the house. That scream from Saku might have already drawn someone's attention and that could end up very badly for them.

Oh how right he was. The moment he entered the last room at the hall, the front door opened.

"_Damn it! Shit, shit, shit, not now! Now I have no way to warn Saku! Well I hope she heard the door and got out safely. I'm probably being silly and while I'm worrying here, she's waiting for me to turn up at the meeting point. Better hurry up and get out of here before I'm caught!" _and with those thoughts he jumped out of the window on the top floor.

Saku on the other hand, was too far away from the front door to have heard anything and went on with her search; the dog on her trail still wagging it's tail.

"What do you want? Leave me alone already." said Saku, who was getting annoyed with the dog following her around everywhere. Weren't dog's supposed to guard houses? This was one weird dog, but now that he wasn't drooling all over her, kind of cute as well.

She petted the dog on it's head and continued on looking through things that might be valuable.

After a few more things, she turned around and walked out of the door, still clueless about the whole situation.

"_What did Shino say again? Oh yeah, if you're done, walk out either the front or the back door. We meet up at home." _With that in mind she walked down the stairs, completely missing the strange looks the people, who had just arrived back home, were giving her, and wanted to walk out the door.

Everything would have gone fine, if it wasn't for a certain dog blocking her way out.

"What's wrong?" she asked the dog. "You know I have to go now. I can't play with you right now. You see I'm on a mission." she told the dog proudly, who still didn't move from his spot in the doorway.

Saku walked behind the dog and tried to pass him, but the dog simply moved a bit aside.

Saku frowned. "I already told you doggy, I can't play with you right now but if you let me pass I'll come back tomorrow and play with you extra long!" she told him happily thinking that she had just won the 'battle'.

When the dog still didn't move and just kept staring at her, she shrugged and turned around. If she couldn't get out through the front door, then she'd just go out the back.

Saku smiled at herself for being so smart. Oh yeah they were going to be so proud of her once she got back.

The dog had left his spot at the door and happily trotted after Saku.

Saku had reached the backdoor and could already smell the glory. She speeded up a little and … bumped into something big.

"Doggy…." She groaned, rubbing her ass as she got up from the floor.

The dog on his turn, just licked her face again, but didn't move from it's spot.

"Moa! This is so not fair! How am I supposed to get out of here if you keep blocking my path!" she cried out in exasperation.

When Saku looked away from the dog, she noticed for the first time, the people whom had gathered at the backdoor. She recognised them from that painting she'd seen earlier.

Saku swallowed as she looked at the people surrounding her. _"Aaah! Where's Shino and the other guys! What happened to that whole 'you are safe as long as you listen to Shino' thing!" _she thought frantically, as the lonely and lost feeling started to get stronger. _"Now what's going to happen to me…" _

"Who are you?" asked the woman, whom she recognised of being the one with the pretty necklace.

"…." Saku didn't say a thing. She didn't know what to say or do for that matter. _"Just smile and everything will turn out all right." _she thought to herself and plastered her best 'I'm innocent' smile on her face.

The woman called the dog back and turned her gaze back to Saku, apparently still waiting for an answer.

"… I'm Saku…" she finally managed to squeak out, still smiling a little more nervously now. The woman frightened her slightly. Her whole posture was one of authority, dignity and she held her head up proudly. Even so she still managed to have a certain elegance showing in her every move, that made her look more like a royalty to Saku than anything else.

"Well Saku." the woman said. "What are you doing in my house?"

At that same moment her attention was drawn to the front door. Either someone desperately needed to talk to someone in this house or they just had the mad urge to bust in the door.

Saku was thankful for the interruption and instead of hanging around to answer the question she made a mad dash for the back door.

"_Yes! I'm free!" _she thought as she ran through the back yard. She could already see the fence, which was the only thing still standing between her and her freedom.

"_Come on legs, just a little more and we're free!" _ she thought desperately as her legs started to get tired from the sprint.

A few more steps and she would be able to jump over the fence, 4 more, 3, 2, … crash!

Saku fell to the floor and slid several more feet forwards on her face, until she finally came to a stop. "Ouch.. that hurt."

She turned around expecting some sort of a tree root sticking up out of the ground, or something else which caused her to trip. She had even thought of the dog being in her way again, but instead she saw a foot.

Her eyes skimmed over the foot and, wondering who had tripped her, moved on to the person that came with the food.

It seemed to be a boy. He was crouched low as if he was looking for something that fell onto the floor, but honestly who'd look for something on the floor with one leg stretched out in a weird angle, and his hands on the floor for support.

It was as if he'd tripped her on purpose… That thought seemed to trigger something in her memory, as she remembered that same pose, Kai…

"Where do you think you're going!" asked the boy suspiciously glaring at her, as he slowly rose to meet her at eyelevel.

"Uhm … home?" she said hoping he'd let her go.

"I don't think so, give it back." was all he said.

"Hum, let me think…. No I won't. I worked real hard for this you know! And then you come along and think I'll just hand it over to you?" Saku said getting more than a little annoyed.

"Give me the bag." he said coldly.

"No." was the stubborn reply.

"I'll get it one way or another. I'll leave the 'how' up to you."

"I earned this fair and square!" came Saku's reply.

"Fair and square? Don't make me laugh, you obviously stole it, now hand it over."

That boy was so annoying; but if he thought he'd get it back this way he'd have another thing coming. _"Shino where are you?" _Saku thought silently as she prepared herself to start running again. With a little luck she'd be able to outsmart this boy and get away safely.

"_Come on Saku, think, think!" _She wanted to get away desperately, but with that boy watching her like a hawk, that wasn't a likely thing to happen.

The boy chose that very moment to lunge forward and made a grab for the bag.

Saku who had been caught up in her own thoughts, wanted to move out of the way at the last moment but that ended up in her falling onto her ass, and she took her assailant with her…

The two kids were sprawled over the floor and when the shock wore off, they both blushed a dark crimson, and at the same time yelled. "Eew! Germs!"

They didn't know how fast they had to get away from each other and instead settled for glaring at each other from a safer distant.

"Give it back right now, or I'll make you pay!" the boy hissed at her.

"No way!" was all she managed to say before the boy lunged at her once more, this time however it turned into an all out brawl.

"Syaoran?" a stern voice yelled from inside the house.

The boy, now known as Syaoran, got distracted yelling "Yes mom?" and in turn discovered that girls, when afraid, would stoop to fighting dirty.

Syaoran doubled over in pain, as she had kneed him where it hurts most, and not wasting another second, made a mad dash for the fence and disappeared out of his sight. "Damn, I'll get you later." he muttered before he slowly got up and awkwardly made his way back to the house.

Back at the old warehouse the guys were anxiously watching their boss who was close to blowing a few fuses.

"Shino! What did I tell you! You were supposed to watch her and bring her back _safely_! What part of bringing her back _safely_ didn't you understand!" Kai raged. Ever since they told him that Saku was missing, he had been yelling and if anyone was unlucky enough to say something stupid, he'd be feeling pain for the next several weeks…

"You!" he yelled, "are going back there right now, and _aren't _coming back until you find her!" he finished furiously emphasizing each word with a poke to Shino's chest.

Shino didn't need any more convincing from his boss and reached the door in record time. He was about to pull it open but someone beat him to it, and the door ended up right in his face.

Saku ran inside as fast as she could, still clutching the bag against her chest as if her life depended on it.

She didn't stop until she bumped into the furious Kai who yelled "What!"

His angry face turned around the second he recognised exactly who had bumped into him, and without a second thought he scooped her up and gave her a hug.

Kai had gotten Saku completely by surprise. She wasn't used to getting hugs, especially not the kind where they cut off your air.

Kai seemed to realize what exactly he was doing and dropped her on the couch. He glared at the guys, daring them to say one thing but they all knew better than that. After all she was the little one of the group, and even though they wouldn't admit it, they had all been worried sick about her.

"Now that we're complete," he said having calmed down a great deal. "we can check out our purchases."

After they had looked through all the bags, only the one from Saku remained. "Yo squirt, put the bag down. We have to check what you brought back." Shino said, who by now, had recovered from his run in with the door.

"Don't call me squirt!" she yelled but gave the bag to Kai anyway. When Kai opened the bag Saku couldn't look more proud.

"Erm … guys?" said Kai slowly raising his head. "It looks like we've got our work cut out for us."

All the other guys formed a circle around Kai to take a look at the contents of the bag. Oh yeah, Kai was right. She still had a _lot _to learn before they could let her go out on her own…

That was the day Saku had learned a valuable lesson … A lesson which, next to surviving, was maybe the most important one she had ever learned in her whole (so far very short) career.

* * *

**AN: **Thanks for reading :) Oh yah don't forget to review any comments etc are very welcome! Oh yah on a side note, I changed the rating to R just to be safe ... --

**Another note: YIPPIE! I actually went back and fixed all the mistakes I could find :-) Oh yeah what I wanted to say is, that everyone who has already read this chapter, might want to check back, since there was a part missing (I just discovered that but fixed it) It might clear a few things up, like Saku's age and how she got with the gang ... It's the second scene of the chapter :-) Sorry 'bout that everyone!**


	3. Tough Luck

**AN: **A little late I know, but a late Merry Christmas! My comp is back up and running again, so here's the new chapter :) I hope you guys will enjoy it. (And a quick thank you to my bro, whom I volunteered to beta for me)

(Just finished revising the chapter, fixed some spelling errors and added missing words here and there. Also had to add some little parts here and there, thing something went wrong when I uploaded the chapter the first time :S)

**Disclaimer: **Check the prologue, it's there, I'm sure...!

* * *

"Sit down over there. Come on now, you know the procedure by now. And don't even think for a second that you can get away again like last time, young Lady." said the stern voice.

The girl walked over to the chair and slumped down on it, waiting for the man, who was supposed to make up a report.

"Yo Charlie!" the girl said upon seeing the man she had been waiting for.

"Saku, back again? Couldn't live without me could yah?" he replied sarcastically rolling his eyes.

This time it was Saku's turn to roll her eyes. "Keep on dreaming. But at least tell me one thing, you didn't let anyone else have it did yah?"

"How could I? Before I can even think of giving it to someone else, you're already back to claim it. Now that's nothing to look proud of you know." Charlie said slightly scolding her, even though he knew she wouldn't listen anyways.

"So tell me Saku, what did you do this time." Charlie asked her as his brow almost disappeared into his hair when he gave her a scrutinizing look. Not that he really had to ask her… but it was procedure.

Saku looked at the man in front of her, waiting with a pencil in his hand to start taking notes. "Nothing much." she shrugged as he sighed exasperatedly.

"What am I supposed to do with you?" he asked, not expecting an answer from her.

"You won't be doing _anything _with me." she stated crossing her hands over her chest defiantly. Oh god, he could be such a perv…

Charlie who by now was used to her comments decided to signal for one of his colleagues to take her away.

"Hey aren't you forgetting something?" asked Saku as she was being led away to her cell.

"No I don't think so." he replied indifferently.

"What 'bout the report you're supposed to be writing?" she asked raising an eyebrow at him.

"Oh don't worry about that, I'll manage. You've been here so many times by now, that I already know what you're going to say, and what you did to end up here. In fact I think I could just start writing them out for the rest of the year, without messing up even once." he said confidently, and with a wave of his hand she was brought to her cell.

"_I doubt you will be able to this time." _she thought silently.

That night Saku was waiting. Waiting for the moon to reach it's highest point at the sky in, by now, her personal cell.

A guard came down to the cells on his last round before going to sleep himself.

Saku prepared herself, and the moment he walked passed her cell, checking if she was asleep he stopped dead in his tracks.

The door to her sell was open and Saku was no where to be found. "Alarm!" shouted the guard as he ran away to inform his superiors of the incident.

Saku smirked from her position against the ceiling. "Moron." she said softly, jumped down and casually walked out of her cell.

She put the hairpin she'd used to open the cell door back in her hair, and strolled down the hallway, in the opposite direction of the guard.

"Ah freedom." she took a deep breath, as she stuck her head through the window of the room in which the guards usually retired for the night.

"They should really fix that broken window." she smirked to herself as she climbed through the window and used the darkness of the night to lose herself in.

After breaking out of jail, she passed an old imposing castle. Usually, at day time, she would climb up the old tree and sit there, staring at the castle for hours. Sometimes, if she sat there long enough, she could even imagine the royal people of the castle having one of those balls you'd hear about from everyone on the streets. They were supposed to be amazing and everyone who meant something would be there.

To her on the other hand it meant nothing. Who cared about big fancy balls anyways? It were just a bunch of people pretending to be something they were not, and acting kindly to people they disliked or even hated, just because etiquette demanded it.

Saku shook her head and continued to follow the road through the forest, in order to get back home.

Usually she would avoid the forest at nights like these, but tonight she had to make an exception. Because the cops would be looking for her, her best bet would be the forest. She'd stand out too much in an almost abandoned town at night.

All the sounds in the forest made her more nervous than she already had been. Surely there weren't as many scary sounds during the day?

Saku, with every time she heard the wind rustle the leaves, or an animal move around in the bushes, would start to move faster and faster in order to get home. _"I should really stop getting caught like that." _she thought making a mental note of that.

Saku released a heavy sigh when she finally reached the end of the forest. _"Goodbye creepy ghost, and hello home!" _she thought excitedly, but at that very moment a dark shadow came rushing towards her at a frightening speed.

"Aaaaah!" she screeched and was about to turn around and run for her life when the beast had caught up to her.

Saku did the only thing she could, at the moment the beast caught up with her, and pounced on her with all his strength. She fell to the forest floor, stiff as a board, hoping and praying that it would be over quickly.

It's hot smelly breath tickled her face. _"This is it…" _she thought desperately. _"Off all places, it had to be in a scary forest, right after I got out of jail." _her thoughts had taken on a slightly bitter turn.

"My, my, what do we have here?" she heard a voice say.

Saku, not yet ready to open her eyes and see what was straddling her body, was utterly confused now. Had she just been jumped by a man? That creepy shadow… the hot smelly breath… had been the owner of the voice? She shook her head trying to rid herself of the crazy image. No that was to weird to even think about. The image of the furry man running on all fours, drooling and panting, was quickly forced out of her thoughts just as it started to take on a creepy smile showing off all it's marvellous white fangs...

She slid one eye open just a little bit and screamed again. The gleaming white teeth that she saw when she opened her eyes, were sharp and a little too close for comfort.

"Stop with the screaming already!" the voice said slightly annoyed.

Once again she looked up and this time saw a young man, not standing very far from her but close enough to determine that he wasn't much older than herself.

The black monster however, still had her straddled and was holding her down on the ground. It's face came closer once again and when she was about to scream, felt a wet long tongue go over her face.

"_Wait a minute…" _somehow this whole thing seemed very familiar to her … _"Oh that's right. The day of my first mission!" _she thought remembering the first time she had been in a situation like this.

"Doggy!" she exclaimed surprised. Even though the dog that day had followed her around the house the entire time, she never found out what his name was…

"Doggy? Last time I checked he was still called Tripper…" the young man told her now getting slightly suspicious.

Saku on the other hand thought that Tripper was a very fitting name for the dog, and hadn't noticed the guy tense up a little as she smiled lovingly at the dog, petting it behind it's ear.

"How is it that you know my dog?" he asked calling the dog off the girl and offering her his hand to help her get up.

"Oh, hehe, well you see there's a perfectly good explanation for that." She started to say bravely but wasn't at all sure how to explain it. She sat up slowly gauging his posture, and slowly took the hand he'd offered her to get up.

"Let's hear it then." he said and stepped back, giving her a cold look and absentmindedly he'd started petting the dog (who by the way loved all the attention he was getting all of a sudden).

While thinking hard about how she could best explain this, Saku had started to walk again slowly. The young man, wanting an explanation, didn't hesitate and hastened his pace until he was beside her; the dog all the while trotting happily after them, sniffing here and there for possible rabbits to chase.

"Well?" the young man prompted her to continue the explanation.

"When I was still a little girl-" she started to say but was interrupted by a snort.

"Looks like that wasn't too long ago then." he mocked.

"You want the explanation or not!" she asked him hotly.

When she received no further reply, she decided to try again.

"So like I said, several years ago when I was still a little girl," she glared at the young man to make sure he wasn't going to interrupt again, but he gave her an exasperated look, before she continued. "I, err well I was playing outside one day, running around and stuff, and suddenly out of nowhere, I ended up on the floor, pretty much the same way I was just a minute ago. He followed me around for a while wanting to play, and until I finally gave in, he didn't leave me alone. So that's how I know your dog." She said taking a deep breath. Where was some water when you needed it?

Okay so she hadn't exactly told him the truth, but at least it was partially true. She couldn't just come out and say something like 'oh I know your dog from the time I broke into your house and stole your belongings and even got away with it." yah that would really set him at ease. She rolled her eyes at her own crazy thoughts.

Saku stopped walking to look at the young man next to her. He seemed to be deep in thought, and she took that time to study his features.

Dark eyes, messy dark hair, handsome face, smooth looking skin, and his expensive clothes obviously meant that his family was still as wealthy as they had been back when she had last seen them.

She smiled at the sudden memories that resurfaced. One memory in particular.

_The guys had all gotten up to check out what she had managed to swipe from the Li's, the moment Kai had told them about the extra work. _

_Kai had emptied the bag on the table, and held up a sword. "What's this supposed to be?" he had asked her raising his brow. _

"_A sword?" she had answered timidly. She really hadn't had a clue of what the problem was. All the things she swiped had looked to be very valuable to the members of the Li family. _

_The sword had been something she never saw the young Li boy without, the Fan was the same story for his mother. She had also swiped things from his sisters, all of them. A teddy bear from one (at which Shino had started teasing her again saying she was such a little girl, and how annoying it was to always have to look after her. That had also been the same day she had said she didn't wan to be a girl and could look after herself, she wanted to become one of the guys so they could be proud of her). _

_The other things were a journal, a mirror, and a nightgown, which had gotten many whistles from the guys for some strange reason. _

_They had kept the nightgown and had wanted to get rid of the other things, but Saku had managed to keep the sword and the teddy for herself. _

Her thoughts were interrupted as she suddenly noticed a hand waving in front of her face, together with a very curious looking face of the guy whom also was the owner of the hand.

"Someone home?" he asked with a frown.

"Err what? Did you say something?" Saku asked sort of lost. What was she doing here again with this strange guy?

"You spaced out on me before I could even reply." he said watching her very closely. "What were you thinking about?" he questioned.

"Oh … hehe never mind that …" she mumbled suddenly finding the leaves on the floor more interesting than his intense gaze.

"Did you lose something?" he questioned her again, while she was staring intensely at something at the forest floor.

"… No, just leaves." she said quietly. What was this guy's problem anyway? Why couldn't he just back off and leave her alone? All she wanted to do right now was go home…

"Right… What exactly is it that you were doing at this hour in the forest, all by yourself nonetheless?" he asked her. Never before on his late night time strolls with the dog, had he encountered a girl, especially not in the forest. It was somehow intriguing.

"Well I just came from … Hey wait a second why do you ask? What's it to you?" She almost told him that she had just successfully escaped prison. _"Nice job Saku!" _she scolded herself. "_Why don't you just tell him you were one of the people who robbed his house and get it over with!" _

"Just curious, I don't usually run into a damsel at night, so the question is only common sense." he stated as a matter of fact.

Now that Saku thought about it, he did have a point., but there was no way she'd admit that to him. Her only concern at the moment was that there were still cops on the look out for her, and the longer she stayed put, the higher the chances of being found and recaptured were.

"I really should be going … " she said trying to avoid answering his question. True he couldn't force her, but damn could he be persistent.

"But you have yet to answer my question." he said, and followed her as she had started to walk away once more.

Aaargh! How much more frustrating could this guy get? She really needed to get home, where she would be safe from the cops… and this guy.

"Okay, okay! I just broke out of jail and ran through the forest cause I would stand out too much in an nearly abandoned village!" she answered him frustrated.

The guy was silent for a few moments looking at her strangely, before snorting. "Of course my lady." he said mockingly "And yet, even though you're on the run, you took your sweet time in a small chat with me. I must say I'm honoured."

Saku only now realized how stupid that whole thing actually sounded, and couldn't exactly blame him for not believing her. But still… she did tell him the truth, and yet he didn't believe it. So maybe a different approach would work? What should she say? Kai always did tell her she was bad at lying… so how was she supposed to pull this one off?

Saku looked up at the young man. He was still right beside her, waiting for her to 'stop lying' and to tell him the truth. The whole idea to get home as soon as possible seemed to get more difficult by the minute.

"I err, well I sort of fell asleep under a tree and didn't wake up until a little bit ago? When I woke up I realized just where I was and so I got up and was running home, when I got intercepted by you and your dog …" Maybe he'd believe that? It sounded lame even to her own ears, but hey, maybe she'd get a break?

For a moment he looked sceptical but, thankfully for her, that didn't last long. "That's it? You've been avoiding my question just because of this?"

Saku couldn't believe he actually bought that lie. But maybe it did sound a bit more believable than the actual truth… So she decided to count her blessings and played along.

She meekly nodded her compliance, but kept staring at her feet.

The good thing about that was, that the young man took it as shyness, or even embarrassment, and left the matter alone… for the time being.

They fell into a awkward silence, and Saku started to get nervous once more. Now that the guy wasn't distracting her with his annoying questions, she was even more aware of all the sounds in the forest. The fact that she was with a strange man, didn't make her situation any better, for who knew what he really wanted from her?

The young man noticed her sudden nervousness and decided to break the silence.

"Which way?" he asked her.

"_Which way? Which way what?" _she thought getting confused once more.

"Which way what?" she asked aloud this time.

"Which way do you live?" he asked more clearly this time, eyeing her fidgety behaviour all the while.

Saku was slightly startled by his question, wondering what the hell he wanted this time. _"Darn." _she thought _"For a short blissful moment I thought I'd be free to go. Now what?" _

She looked around herself trying to think of a way out, but nothing came to her. Finally, admitting defeat to herself she meekly pointed in the general direction of her home, hoping to get it over with. "Why do you want to know?" she asked, not being able to stop fidgeting, and glancing around her nervously.

"I will accompany you home." he stated not even bothering to wait for her compliance.

"And why the hell do you think I need that?" Saku asked getting defensive. He wanted to bring her home! That would be very bad, Kai would have her head! It was their hide out, and that put aside, what would he say if he found out she lived in an old, supposedly, abandoned warehouse?

"_Nice job Saku, really. Just get a bit more tense will yah? Then he'll know for sure that something's wrong!" _She scolded herself. This really wasn't her day…

"Seems to me," he said slowly "that someone is afraid of the dark."

Even though she couldn't see his face clearly, the smirk was easily distinguished from the rest of his features.

"_Great." _she thought sarcastically _"Here I am alone in a dark forest with a guy who takes pleasure in other people's discomfort!" _

Saku really had the mad urge to strangle him, but the hooting of an owl made her jump involuntarily and within a second she was hiding behind no one but Tripper.

For some reason the young man seemed to think it was funny. "I told you girls like you, shouldn't be running around in a dark forest all by themselves." he said smugly.

Saku was silent for a moment until she looked up thoughtfully. "I never heard you say something like that…." she said slowly.

"You're right, I didn't." was all he said and shrugged.

His answer had her flabbergasted. He was such a strange guy. She didn't know whether to just get it over with and let him walk her 'home' or tell him to get the hell away from her. Both sounded very tempting at the moment, but there was one problem… She wouldn't admit it too him, but he had been right. She was afraid of the dark … So it was either stay alone and afraid, or let him play the gentleman and let him walk her home, in order to get killed by Kai for bringing a stranger to their hideout… decisions, decisions.

Finally her fear overruled her common sense, and she slowly got up from her hiding place behind Tripper, and sighed in defeat.

"Fine, you can walk me home… Are you happy now?" she asked sarcastically.

"Oh come on, it's not like you aren't benefiting from this at all." he said rolling his eyes, even though she couldn't see it.

They had been walking for a while when he sprung another question on her.

"What's your name?" he asked her casually. "We've been talking for a while already, and we still haven't been properly introduced."

"What do you care?" she asked once again defensively. "Besides you don't ask for someone's name without giving your own first." This time it was her turn to be smug, and she liked it. She stopped, hands on her hips waiting for him to try back off.

"Li, Li Syaoran." he stated simply and turned to face her.

"_Okay so he didn't back off, there goes that plan." _she thought grouchily.

"Saku…" was all she said and at that he looked at her strangely. She knew it sounded a bit weird, and maybe even impolite, but in all honesty she didn't know anything more than that. It was all she remembered.

"No family name?" he inquired.

"No…" she said just above a whisper.

Clearly this girl was very ashamed of her family, or else she would have told him. _That_ he was sure off, but if she wouldn't tell him, that was fine. He would find it out on his own, sooner or later. His family wasn't the most powerful and influential family of the land for nothing.

"Alright then, Saku it is." he said finishing the introductions, and both lapsed into another round of silence, as they went on their way once more.

"I can go on my own from here, after all we're back in the village now." she said hoping he'd let her go. That way she wouldn't get in trouble with Kai, and he wouldn't be the wiser about where she lived.

"Alright then miss Saku." he said politely. "I'll be on my way then, come on Tripper." he called for his dog, who came rushing towards his master, almost knocking him over.

Saku was glad that he had finally decided to let her go. She looked back at Li and Tripper once more and walked away. At least that's what she thought she was doing.

When she noticed that Li was following her she turned around looking annoyed. "Where do you think you're going? I knew it! You're following me aren't you!" she said testily.

"Now why would I want to follow you?" he replied back evenly, not even the least bit faced by her accusations.

"How should I know! I just know that you are!" she yelled back. Sheesh not only was he irritating and what not, now he turned out to be a stalker.

"This," he said pointing in the same direction she had been walking only moments ago, "is my way home." he said with a smirk.

This was just her luck! Here she thought she had gotten rid of him once and for all, and he just had to live in the same general direction she lived in. _"So that's why he walked me home… it was on his way home." _she thought crossly. Not like he knew that before he offered it to her, but she quickly pushed that thought aside.

"If that's your way, then I'm going this way, and don't you dare follow me!" she snapped back at him and turned around abruptly.

"Be careful!" he called after her still smirking "You can never be to sure what's really hidden out here at nights!"

Saku gulped but without slowing down she took a detour to her own home. _"I wonder what the guys will say if I tell them what happened tonight…"_ she thought.

* * *

"I'm home!" she yelled as she reached the old warehouse.

"Saku! Where've you been girl?" Shino asked looking up from his place on the couch.

"The usual…" she grumbled slightly.

"You know squirt, even though you're a brilliant rogue, you should stop getting arrested… It's bad for our image!" he half mocked, half scolded her.

"Don't start with me." Saku said flopping down on the couch next to him. "I've had a long day…" she grumbled and made herself comfortable.

"Shino! Get your ass over here!" the only one who used that language against Shino was Kai.

"What!" Shino yelled back not even bothering with getting up and actually moving from his comfortable spot.

"Have you found her yet? Where the hell is she! She should've been back by now. If they have her I swear they'll be cursing the very day they were born!" Kai raged on, and was currently right in Shino's face.

"Ahum!" Saku cleared her throat, trying to get Kai's attention. "What's up bro?" she asked as innocent as possible.

"You!" he yelled. "You're not dead!" he exclaimed relieved and surprised at the same time, but quickly recovered. "Where the hell have you been? Was it them!" he asked outraged.

"Them who?" Saku asked him clearly not following a word he was saying. "And why would I be dead?"

Kai on the other hand turned to Shino abruptly. "Do you mean to tell me you haven't told her yet?" his tone of voice clearly in the danger zone.

"Eh.. hehe, well how could I? She hasn't been home much lately…" Shino tried to talk his way out of it. Sadly enough for him, it wasn't working.

"You could have told her this morning!" Kai was still pissed off, and his face was turning red from all the shouting and yelling he was doing.

"Why did I have to tell her, why couldn't you tell her!" he suddenly asked, proud at himself for coming up with an answer like that.

Kai thwacked him on the head. "And what have I been doing again these last days?" he asked his voice dangerously low.

Shino thought about this for a moment before it hit him, and so did Kai once more. "Ouch! Okay, okay I get it! I'm sorry okay? It won't happen again sheesh, now can you stop hitting me!"

Kai decided to ignore him and turned back to a dumbstruck Saku and hugged her tightly. "Well young lady." he said and, as abruptly he'd hugged her, he'd also let go of her again and continued. "You have a lot of explaining to do."

Saku was still trying to figure out what was going on. Usually Kai was a composed, and arrogant sort of person. He barely ever showed emotion, aside from anger and annoyance, so this was very weird to her.

"Who are they? What were you two talking 'bout?" she asked looking at the both of them.

"That can wait until later, it's good that you're back, now start from the beginning."

And with that said Saku told the both of them the entire story of getting arrested, breaking out of jail, and meeting up with her stalker Li.

At the last part, they both jumped up shouting "What!" in unison, but when she managed to finish the story of that day's events they both calmed down visibly.

"You should stay away from him, squirt." Shino told her earnestly, as she glared at him for calling her squirt.

"Saku, you do remember that house we plundered years ago, right?" Kai asked her and Saku nodded.

"That stalker of yours, was their son." they both finished in unison once more.

"Would you stop repeating me?" Kai demanded more than asked Shino.

"What do you mean with that? You're the one who was repeating me!" Shino now yelled back.

"_Here we go again." _Saku thought with a heavy sigh. "Could you guys cut it out for a minute, and fill me in here? What's going on? Who are they?" she wanted an answer, and she wanted one now. "Besides," she said more as an after thought "of course I knew who he was … it's not a difficult thing to figure out especially since he told me rather bluntly, but was obviously proud of it."

Kai and Shino managed to hold a cease fire, and for a moment they both looked grim.

"Well..."

* * *

"I can't believe this!" an angry Syaoran yelled. "Why the hell do I have to go? He may be my uncle but I can't stand the guy!" he was about to continue his rant when his mother held her hand up.

"Now you listen to me. Do you remember that burglary that happened 10 years ago? And do you remember what happened right after the little girl ran into the back yard?" she asked him in a serious tone.

It sounded as if she was going to give him more bad news …. _"As if going to him isn't bad enough… " _he thought annoyed.

"Yes mother, I remember that day as if it had happened yesterday." he grunted. "After all she stole my sword!" he exclaimed. "But I can't remember what else happened…" he said trailing off. "All I remember was a mad man banging on the door, and that's when you sent me to my room."

"That was one of your other uncles… Uncle Ming." she looked at her son who had calmed down enough to listen to her. "He told me, that there was an assassination planned on the heir of the Li family, being you. When he wanted to tell me who was behind it, someone killed him, right at our doorstep, effectively shutting him up, with an arrow through his heart. He was dead instantly."

His mother paused long enough for the words to sink in.

A small "oh…" was all he managed to get out.

"Your father had already been dead back then, you were too young to defend yourself and too young to carry such a heavy load. Your sisters never learned how to fight, and Wei was already getting old. That left me with only one option… Your Uncle Kon. I asked him for his help… in order to protect you."

His mother's words slowly but surely started to get through his thick skull, invading his mind like a bad joke. Did she mean to tell him what he thought she was telling him?

Syaoran was about to interrupt her, but she held up her hand once more, letting him know that she wasn't done yet.

"I have been in his debt ever since. Deeply in his dept… He wants one of your sisters to marry his son." at which she pulled out an envelope and showed him a picture of the son she was talking about.

"With him? You have got to be kidding me! He's as ugly as a toad, but I don't want to compare that to the poor creatures. Now that I'm talking about toads… He has more wraths on his face than a toad over his entire body!" he exclaimed horrified. "You can't let any of my sisters, marry that thing."

His mother looked at her son proudly, but even though he said the things he had, that didn't leave the matter resolved.

"It's either the marriage, or he wants you there. I am not sure what he wants with you however, all I know is that he has something to talk to you about." With that she finished her explanation and watched her son's reaction carefully.

He sighed in defeat. "Fine I'll go. Everything to keep my sisters away from that freak…"

Yelan got up. "You will leave tomorrow at dawn." she informed him and then left her son to his thoughts.

What would that weird uncle of his want from him? He wasn't even his real uncle, more like a far away relative, and yet he had to call him uncle…

How was he going to travel all the way to Japan? On foot? He could only hope that there was something prepared for his journey the next morning.

* * *

"Has he arrived in China yet?" Lord Kon asked his Captain.

"Yes milord, he has." the Captain replied bowing.

"And? Has she been found?" Lord Kon asked getting impatient, with the lack of information his Captain was offering.

"No Milord, it... it seems that he is having some difficulties with the locals in the village." the Captain said. Why did Lord Kon have to send for him every single time he wanted information? He hated bringing the Lord bad news… Somehow it always came down to the point where it was somehow his fault.

"You incompetent moron!" Lord Kon shouted. "Why is he having trouble? Have you not informed him of his task? How hard can it possibly be, to tell someone to snatch one single young girl!" and there the Lord went again raging and shouting, and of course blaming him for his own incompetence… But he'd never say the last part out loud.

A knock on the door interrupted the rant, and Lord Kon snapped at the door. "This better be important!"

"Y… yo.. you said you wanted to be informed the moment we had word from the Li family from China, Milord." The poor messenger had stumbled inside, stuttering all the way. _"Please don't let him kill me?" _he prayed silently in his mind.

"Well? What did they say!" he snapped infuriated at the messenger.

"T…t … the son, the Li heir is coming here personally." The messenger squeaked. The sooner he had delivered the news, the faster he was out of there.

"Leave." was all Lord Kon said, and before he had even finished saying that, the messenger had already scrambled out.

The Captain looked questioningly at his Lord. _"The heir himself is coming to visit?" _he thought wondering what that was all about.

"This is good, this is very good news indeed!" he got up from his throne and started pacing. "He is exactly what I need!"

The Captain was glad that his Lord had refocused his energy into something other than himself. If only he would stay that way …

* * *

"Well… You see Saku, you know how we've never really gotten along with that street gang right?" Shino started to explain as Saku nodded.

"You see, they are moving in on our turf. We used to have a pact. They wouldn't invade ours, and we wouldn't invade theirs. But now they have a new leader and, well that was pretty much it for the pact. Unless we want to turn into their little slaves and do all their dirty work, we'll have to stand up against them and face them like men."

At the last part Saku raised her brow at him and then looked back down at her body. "That…" she said "is going to be very difficult then."

Shino looked sheepish when she said that, obviously realising his mistake and got thwacked on the head once more, courtesy of Kai.

"Hey why'd you do that for?" Shino asked annoyed. "It's not like she didn't understand what I was saying!"

"I don't think even I know what you are saying all the time." Kai said coolly.

Shino glared at Kai but continued to explain things to Saku nonetheless.

"You need to be extra careful when you go out tomorrow, or any other day until things settle down." he warned her. "We don't know what they're capable off yet, so be careful and don't get yourself into any trouble!"

Saku didn't know what to say to the bad news. She was shocked and suddenly realised why Kai had been so mad to begin with.

"If possible don't go out on your own Saku." Kai said before he left the room.

"Okay." was all she said before slumping back down on the couch next to Shino.

"So squirt, why did they catch you this time?" he asked her trying to lighten up her mood.

At the question Saku turned bright red. _"Don't ask me that!" _she thought desperately, but when Shino asked her a second time, she ended up giving in anyways.

"Well you know this fountain at the market right?" she asked him still a nice shade of crimson.

"Yah, I know that… what 'bout it?" he asked getting suspicious.

"Well err…" she couldn't handle that stern gaze of his "How was I supposed to know you weren't allowed to take a bath there! Something 'bout disturbing the peace and what not…" she grumbled. "I've been bathing there as long as I can remember!"

As Saku sat there, heavily embarrassed, Shino had his mouth agape. "You what!" he asked astonished. "You actually stripped down and tried to take a bath there! And it never occurred to you, that if it was a public bath, that there would be other people using it as well? You didn't think it was odd at all? To get _naked _in public!"

"Alright, alright! I can see your point." she grumbled. "and no I never thought 'bout it like that…"

"You actually took a bath, butt naked?" he asked once more just to make sure he wasn't hearing things.

"Yes! Don't make me repeat it! It's embarrassing enough as it!" she yelled, hitting him with a pillow.

"Hahaha, I bet the cops had a tough time staying focussed! What 'bout that perverted priest? I would have _loved _to see his face!"

To Saku's great dismay, Shino kept on laughing, and hiccupping. He tried to catch his breath to say something else, but that never happened, as he started laughing all over again. She was never going to hear the end of this… That she knew for sure.

* * *

**AN: **I hope you enjoyed the chapter, so thank you for reading, and leave me a review ;) And if anyone is interested, I posted a new story, so if you're curious go ahead and read it :) 


	4. Engaged!

**AN:** Hello everyone! I know it's been a while again before I updated this chapter but the good news is I got it done-) I sort of got carried away in this one and when I noticed it's length I had to end it lol. So it ended up being slightly longer than it was supposed to, I hope you don't mind! Thank you to everyone who's read and reviewed my story so far and I hope you will enjoy the new chapter!

(thank you evil neko for pointing out my error there with the hilt/sheath part :)

_Warning: for violence at the end of the chapter!_

**Disclaimer: **Check the first chapter -)

* * *

_Chapter 3: Engaged!_

"Xiao Lang!" his mother's voice rang out through the entire house, as the first rays of sunlight just peeked over the mountains on the far side of the village.

Yelan had already sent Wei up to her son's room, to make sure he got his ass out of bed and ready for his departure.

The elderly man opened the curtains, allowing some much needed light into the room, as he, otherwise, wouldn't be unable to start packing the bags for his young master.

Syaoran groaned when the rays of sunlight hit his face. Instead of waking up however, he turned away from them, and pulled the blankets over his head, effectively banishing all the evil sunrays from reaching his face.

"Syaoran-sama, time to get up" Wei called out, gently shaking Syaoran, hoping to wake him up gently before the Mistress would come up stairs and do it herself.

"Not yet…" was all he mumbled, before snuggling further into the covers. When the shaking wouldn't let up, he tried swatting it away like he would do to a fly. But not even that seemed to have the desired effect.

Wei cocked an eyebrow at the sleeping boy, who currently refused to get up. "Your bags are packed and you will miss the boat if you don't hurry up Syaoran-sama" Wei said gently. If the young master missed his ship, he wouldn't hear the end of it. His mother wouldn't forgive him. So he decided to try again.

"Syaoran-sama, wake up, you know how your mother gets when she has to wait for you. You do remember a certain Mr. Leon don't you?" he asked starting to sound more urgent. "Do you _want _one of your sisters to get forced into a marriage with his son?" okay, if waking him up normally wasn't going to help this morning, than he had to resort to more desperate measures.

Wei could understand why the young master was so tired, and had a rough time waking up this morning. After all, his usual night time stroll had taking much longer than they usually did, and after that, he had the talk with his mother. Wei knew the young master well enough, (being the one who practically raised him after his father died), to know that he had been up most of the former night, pondering about the things his mother had told him. It must have been quite a shock for him, even though he managed to keep his cool. Wei couldn't blame him. Thankfully enough, his efforts weren't in vain, as the young master seemed to have heard his last words quite clearly.

"No way in hell is he going to get any of my sisters!" he grumbled determined. He shot up straight in bed, and was glaring heatedly at Wei. "I'll go see what he wants" Syaoran ground out. And with that said, Wei left the young master's room, in order for him to prepare for the journey ahead.

By the time he got downstairs, his bags were already being loaded into the carriage, and his mother and 4 sisters were waiting for him there as well. Syaoran heaved a deep sigh and closed his eyes, before he walked out the door determinedly.

"I'm sorry mother" he apologised, "I hope you are not too disappointed with me" he said and bowed his head.

Yelan on the other hand hid a small but proud smile behind her fan. "Just hurry up Xiao Lang, you don't want to miss the boat now do you?" she asked him raising a delicate eyebrow at him.

Syaoran bowed to his mother once more "well then, I'll be on my way…" he said softly and made his way towards the carriage.

"Xiao Lang" his mother called out.

"Yes mother?" he asked and turned around.

His mother had closed the distance between them and had currently wrapped her arms around her son in a loving embrace. "Be careful alright?" she said in a bare whisper.

Syaoran, caught off guard, didn't return the hug at first and let his arms hang loosely besides his body, but he quickly caught himself and returned the hug. "I will mother, you know me" he told her reassuringly.

It wasn't often that his mother showed such affection. Especially not ever since his father died. These were rare, but very precious moments to Syaoran, and he cherished each and every one of them.

When his mother broke the embrace, he was a bit disappointed because it meant that it was now really time to go, but he didn't show it. Instead he gave her another reassuring little smile, said goodbye to each of his sisters personally (some of which couldn't resist repeating their mother and hugged him tightly, while the other two burst into tears) and got into the carriage, which drove off the moment the door was closed.

The journey lasted several hours, and if it wasn't for Syaoran's demand for a short break at a local tavern, they would have been at the docks an hour earlier. And even so, the boat wouldn't leave for another 2 hours.

Syaoran was walking around the docks a bit, in order to kill some time. He was so bored! He had already been waiting for two hours and his boat was late. They had told him that it could take another hour at the very least before it would be there. So in the meantime Syaoran went off on his own, checking out the other boats in the harbour.

He stopped at a certain point to check out a small boat that was currently docking. The men waiting at the docks to secure the ropes, weren't the only people waiting. There was another man, dressed in rather strange clothes.

Unlike most people in China, he wasn't wearing colourful clothes at all. He was wearing brown clothes. All different colours of brown, but still it looked more like he had been working out on a field, taking care of his harvest. Now, Syaoran was sure that the man was no farmer what so ever, in fact his clothes looked much too refined to belong to a simple farmer. He was dressed to blend in, and yet in Syaoran's opinion, he stuck out like a sore thumb.

Syaoran shrugged and watched the man with interest. The man waited, not very patiently, until the boat was secured, and another man stepped off the boat. That man looked like he was someone important, or at least that's what Syaoran assumed. His entire posture was one of being recognised by other people, so obviously wherever he came from, he was a man of high stature, a dandy or a premier.

The second man, the dandy, walked off the boat and approached the other man, who was still waiting impatiently. Without even the slightest sign of a greeting, both men walked off together, towards a more quiet place. Syaoran, with nothing better to do, decided to see where they were going. After all, staying behind with nothing to do would leave him bored and this way, he might even end up discovering a part of the docks he hadn't seen yet.

With his hands in his pockets he observed the two men, as they walked towards a more secluded area. The dandy, as Syaoran had dubbed the one who came from the boat only moments before, handed something to the other guy, now identified as the ruffian.

Suspiciously enough it looked a lot like the letters his mother would get from time to time, only the important ones of course. This letter seemed to have some sort of seal on it. He wasn't too sure about that since he wasn't close enough to get a good look at it. Syaoran could hear murmurs and the occasional word here and there, but nothing more.

It was nothing really disturbing, and frankly even if they had been dealing drugs or something right in front of his nose, he wouldn't have said anything about it either, but his curiosity got the best of him. He moved a bit closer, determined to hear at least parts of the conversation, and hid himself behind one of the bushes.

"….is going as planned?" _"Damn" _thought Syaoran _"I caught them in the middle of something… wonder what's going on. But with a bit of luck I'll know more soon" _he smirked as he crouched down a bit lower, just to make sure they wouldn't see him. Then something hit him. He hadn't noticed it earlier, but why _were_ they conversing in Japanese?

Good thing his mother had forced him to learn that language together with Chinese when he was younger. She always did say he would thank her for it one day… He had hated her for it back then, complaining that other kids didn't had to learn another language, but she didn't care and made him study twice as much. How was he supposed to know it would actually come in handy one day? _"Thanks mom" _he thought grateful before turning his attention back to the conversation at hand. His Japanese was a bit rusty but that wouldn't stop him…

"Yes" was the very short reply of the ruffian.

What they were talking about? Syaoran still didn't know, so he strained to hear more. The more Japanese he heard, the easier it was for him to translate the Japanese to Chinese.

"But you haven't found her yet?" the dandy inquired.

"No, but that won't take long, I'm sure of it" replied the ruffian sounding very bored.

Syaoran wondered slightly who the poor girl, or woman, was. He was sure that if he would have been a girl, he would've ran away from those creeps too. Poor thing had probably gone into hiding. Who knew? Maybe they had tried to marry her off to some bastard, or worse, maybe she had escaped some brothel! Syaoran shook his head trying to rid himself of the imagines flashing through his mind when he heard something else.

"…. Assassinated?" the dandy asked.

"Yes" That man, the ruffian, seemed to be someone who didn't waste any words at all. It was frustrating for Syaoran since this way he would never find out what the hell they were talking about. Now that they had started to say something about assassination, whether or not it had already happened Syaoran didn't know, he was determined to figure out more before he had to go back to the docking place to get on his boat.

"But it was cancelled, am I correct?" the ruffian only nodded, confirming the dandy's question. "That put aside, I think you will like the contents of this envelope" he said as he pointed at the letter, which he had been holding onto until moments ago, when he had given it to the ruffian.

"You are free to do whatever you please during the time it takes to get it done. It also doesn't matter how you get it done, as long as you stick to the instructions written in there. Now I don't want to be seen with you, so I'll be taking my leave. Good day sir and good luck." with that said the dandy turned around and walked back towards the place where his boat was still waiting for him. Without another back glance, the man got on the boat and left the harbour, returning to wherever he originally came from.

The other man, the ruffian, tore away the seal and opened the letter. He quickly skimmed over the information in the letter and smirked. After reading it, he crumbled the paper and burned it, effectively making sure that no one besides him would ever find out its contents.

"_There must be something very important in that letter for him to burn it right away" _Syaoran thought as he watched the man's every move.

When the man walked away from the clearing, Syaoran got a pretty good look at his face and immediately knew why the man hid his face with the hood of his mantle. He had a big scar across his face. Syaoran wasn't sure whether or not the man could see anything with his right eye, since the scar ran right across it. His best guess was that the man didn't even have an eye left to see anything with.

There were more scars visible on his face, but that one was the most peculiar. His mouth was also grazed with several scars and it looked as if he was even missing a piece of lip. Syaoran wondered what sort of life that man must have had, or still have, to end up with such an appearance… Maybe he had fought in a particularly nasty war?

Syaoran had to duck out of sight, when the man suddenly turned and walked into his direction. He held his breath until he was sure the man was long gone and slowly got up from his place in the bush.

Syaoran took a deep breath to release some of the tension that had been building up during the time he had been eavesdropping. He hadn't even realised how tense he had been until he stretched his muscles. Ah yes, that sure felt a whole lot better. Now what was he supposed to do?

With nothing better to do, Syaoran decided to make his way back towards the docks slowly, hoping that the damn boat had arrived by now. He was highly disappointed however, by the time he got there.

"I'm sorry sir, but there is a heavy storm raging. The boat you are waiting for, had to take a different course in order to avoid the storm. It will be at least another 2 days before it arrives." A short man, who looked like he would rather be anywhere right now than reporting to a grumpy Syaoran, informed them.

"And there is no other boat travelling to Japan that I could use in its stead?" Syaoran asked grudgingly. "I have an appointment I'm supposed to keep" he told the man in front of him curtly. He hated it when things like this happened.

The man in front of him gulped and bowed as low as possible. "I'm really sorry sir, but there is nothing we can do for you at the moment."

"Fine" sighed Syaoran exasperated as he watched the man scurry away. Now what?

Waiting around the docks for two days wasn't an option in Syaoran's mind, so he called Wei (who had accompanied him) and informed him that they were going home for a few more days.

Wei nodded and went back towards the carriage to prepare things for their departure.

Syaoran sighed. It was already way past noon and by the time they would be home, it would have already grown dark. _"Great I just spend an entire day travelling for nothing!" _he thought irritated, but then he remembered the conversation he had over heard earlier.

He was busy trying to figure out what both men had been talking about, when Wei interrupted him to announce they were ready to leave. Syaoran only nodded and followed him back to the carriage where he got in and sat down for the very long and boring ride home. But not without informing Wei that they would be taking another, yet longer, break at the local tavern in the village.

* * *

Saku didn't get much sleep the night after she had found out about the gang. Sure she had always known they were there, but since they had a peace treaty she'd never worried about them much. Then again she hardly ever saw them to begin with and if she did, they usually avoided each other like cats did with water. 

Now however, Kai had told her to stay at their hideout as much as possible, and she was only to go out if she was told, had company from one of the guys, or if she had no other choice (like when she had to get new underwear…).

It was still very early in the morning and luckily for her, everyone was still asleep. Saku crawled out of her bed and got dressed silently. She decided to wash up somewhere outside in order not to wake anyone up, and left her room.

She knew it was dangerous to go out alone, but what else was she supposed to do? Wait until everyone else woke up? That way she would have to miss out on her morning routine and that wasn't something she could live with. So she sneaked out of the old warehouse and hurried off towards the town's square where she knew a certain fountain.

She ran into a small alley, passed the local tavern where she knew some of the guys loved to hang out from time to time, and rushed off towards the fountain.

Saku looked around anxiously as she remembered Shino's laughing fit about her last adventure with that same fountain. This time at least she knew what she was doing… and it was a whole lot more early than last time she did it, when the square had obviously been bustling with town folks.

"_Good there's no one around yet, I guess before dawn really is a bit too early for most people" _she thought smiling to herself. Confident that there was no one around to get her arrested this time, she stripped down and stepped into the fountain with the very cold water.

Saku didn't know how wrong she was. A pair of eyes was keeping a close watch on her seemingly annoyed.

The man was hidden from Saku's view. He was hiding behind a building located at Saku's right side in a dark alley. The only thing that you would notice, if you were to look in his direction that is, were his eyes, which glistened at the light.

The man growled in displeasure, knowing he couldn't stick around to enjoy the show of this young, oblivious and innocent girl. She was so incredibly lucky, at least another while. He had to get on with his journey for now and forget about her. For he had an appointment to attend to, which was much more important than his own pleasure at the moment. She would have to wait.

Oblivious to it all, Saku continued her 'bath' in peace, as the stranger turned on his heels and left for his destination.

"Ah this is much better" Saku said to no one in particular and quickly got out of the freezing cold water. She had goose bumps all over her body and her only coherent thought at the moment was to get dressed as soon as possible.

"Thanks" she said to the person who handed her a towel and wrapped it firmly around her body, trying to warm up a little.

"You know, if you would have washed up at home you wouldn't be cold right now" said a very familiar voice.

"Yeah you're right, but I didn't want to wake everyone up so I came out here and …" her voice got stuck in her throat when she realised something. She never brought a towel… and for as far as she knew, the streets had been void of people when she stepped in the fountain, so who the hell was she talking to?

Slowly she turned around; afraid of whom she'd see there. _"Oh great, of all the people to find me here, it had to be him…" _she thought annoyed as she held the towel securely against her body, making sure it wouldn't fall off.

"Too bad I didn't come here earlier. It seems I missed quite the show" he said smirking at her.

"You again! What are you doing here?" she asked him looking up at him suspiciously.

"You do know that it is very inappropriate for a Lady like yourself, to take a bath in public right?" he asked her completely ignoring what she had asked him only moments ago.

"Don't you start lecturing me again!" she hissed out and graced him with one of her heated glares. God he could be so annoying!

"I am not lecturing anyone milady, on the contrary. My concern for your safety is what brought me here. For there are certain dangers that may come with your peculiar bathing habits." he told her smoothly.

"Mr. Li, it was Li right?" she asked him but didn't wait for his answer as she went on "what's up with that crazy talk of yours and what the hell are you talking 'bout? I'm perfectly fine as you can see, and there's nothing dangerous going on here." she told him rather bluntly.

"Sharp memory" he commented her dryly. "This certainly isn't crazy talk, for we are in public and since my family is of high importance, I can't be seen talking slang nor can I be seen behaving myself in anything but the ways of a sophisticated gentleman." he finished his explanation with mock bow and straightened up again still smirking slightly.

Saku quirked an eyebrow at his behaviour. "You're wrong" she said. "We are not in public. The streets are almost abandoned!" she said waving her hand around them as if to show him what she meant.

"The streets might have been empty when you got here, but they aren't anymore." he replied and observed her facial futures as they seemed to change with every new thought that went through her mind.

"You're lying. There's no one here!" she almost yelled at him. Okay so being almost naked in front of him and his intense gaze, didn't put her on her best behaviour, but who could really blame her?

"You're wrong my dear" he replied smoothly and when he saw she was about to interrupt him he went on. "If the streets really _were_ empty… then where did _I _come from? And do you really think a man of my status would travel all alone?" he let his words sink in and then said one more thing. "And even though there might not yet be many people outside, don't you think that it might very well be possible, for them to be watching you from inside their respective homes? Not everyone goes outside the moment they wake up you know…"

Saku's mouth would have hit the floor if it had been physically possible. She stood there gaping at him, not knowing what to say. In her mind she was screaming furiously at him, while a mental image of her wringing his neck popped up. But her vocal cords seemed to have gone out of order sometime during his little speech and a nice flush had crept its way up to her face. She opened and closed her mouth several times, doing a nice impression of a fish and that left her feeling very stupid. Why couldn't she think of a great comeback? What was wrong with her voice? So to try and save some of her dignity she huffed and stuck her nose up in the air, away from him.

Then she remembered her first question. "N.. now that you mentioned it yourself" she started, recovering from her embarrassment "what _are _you doing here Mr. I worry 'bout my image too much?" she asked him lacing her voice with sarcasm at her last 'insult'. "Besides, if you really are such an important person, then why are you wasting your 'precious' time talking to someone like me?"

"Well it sure was nice talking to you milady, but unfortunately I have to be on my way. Remember what I just told you and… Oh yeah be careful… next time around you might not be found by a fine gentleman such as myself" he added with a smirk as he had once more successfully avoided her question.

Saku was silently fuming. Not only did he keep on dodging her questions, but he successfully managed to insult, and embarrass her in public no less!

Syaoran silently watched her fume. It was amusing to say the least. He slightly wondered if that girl knew any shame at all. Who would have thought anyone would try and take a bath in a public fountain? His mind wandered off to what would've happened, had he arrived a few minutes earlier, but quickly caught himself.

Hadn't he just told her he had to leave? And yet here he was, still at the exact same place where he had been the whole time, silently watching her. Before she realised he was still there and would start asking questions again, he forced himself to turn on his heel and left.

Saku snapped out of her contemplating thoughts and suddenly became very aware of the fact that he was leaving. Had she just lost their second verbal battle? _"Damn him!" _she thought angrily and before she knew what she was doing, it was already too late.

"Hey Li!" she yelled after him. He turned around and eyed her curiously wondering what she wanted this time. Great now what was she going to say? She hadn't even thought off a witty comeback or anything else!

Syaoran was about to turn away once more when she suddenly blurted out "It's Saku, not milady!"

"_Oh yeah very smart Saku, I'm sure that left him stumped…He'll be at your feet begging any minute now!" _she thought sarcastically.

Syaoran smirked. "Was that all?" he asked her. It would have sounded like a normal question to anyone but Saku. _"Gah! He's just mocking me that bastard!" _she thought angrily and wanted nothing more, than to perform a certain 3 step program on him, which she had originally invented for use against Shino.

In her mind she went over the steps quickly, envisioning each and every one of them:

_Step 1: stretch arms out forward.  
Step 2: aim for the neck and close your hands around the throat.  
Step 3: squeeze the life out of him and make sure you shake the victim with all your might._

She smirked at the mental image of Li being strangled by her personally, but then remembered he was currently leaving. "Aren't you forgetting something? Don't you want this back?" she asked pointing at the towel, which was still securely wrapped around her slim form.

Syaoran turned around and eyed her up and down making Saku rather uncomfortable. "It looks to me" he started, looking mischievously "that you need it more than me right now. You can return it to me later."

"And what if I want to return it now?" she asked him snappily.

"Well you could" he started to say slowly "but I wouldn't advice it." he said.

Saku eyed him suspiciously "and why the hell not?" she asked him now more annoyed with him than ever before.

All he did was look around the square. "I think you're smarter than that" he told her seriously.

Saku knew that was more of an insult than a compliment, and hesitantly she decided to follow his gaze. She tried to stay unfazed by all the attention she was currently getting from several male spectators, but she couldn't hide the slight blush that was gracing her cheeks currently.

Syaoran turned around and walked back towards her. Saku's breath caught in her throat when she saw him advancing on her. _"What's he planning to do? Take away the towel and leave me here?" _she didn't like where her thoughts were going but they couldn't go any further as they were interrupted by him.

"Are you sure you want to return it to me now?" he whispered so only she could hear.

"Bastard" was all she mumbled under her breath but he heard her anyway.

Saku then remembered something he had said earlier. _"Next time around you might not be found by a fine gentleman such as myself." _She looked over his shoulder at a few of the males. She knew several others were behind and next to her as well. They weren't close enough to hear what they both had been saying the whole time, at least she hoped they weren't, but they were close enough to get a good glimpse of her in her current situation.

"_Me and my stupid ideas!" _she thought angrily at herself. How was she going to get herself out of this one? She could try to grab her clothes and make a run for it. But then she'd risk losing the towel. Her other option would be to stay there and hope they left her alone eventually so she could get dressed, but that wasn't a very likely to happen either. So then what?

"Seems to me" a voice said interrupting her silent panic "that someone is in a very difficult situation" Syaoran smirked as he gauged her reaction. It was priceless! He knew he shouldn't be enjoying her predicament this much, but he couldn't help it. He also knew that he should have been back at the carriage some time ago to continue his journey, but he couldn't leave a damsel in distress like that, now could he?

Saku didn't trust that mischievous glint in his eyes at all. Oh how she hated his guts right now! The bastard was enjoying this a bit too much, and it showed. Instead of starting another fight with him however, she kept her mouth shut and decided to ignore his taunts.

"I could help you out of this predicament of yours" he whispered smoothly. He knew she was contemplating her options, he also knew that the last thing she would do was accept his offer. But he knew that at that moment, she was cornered and he was her only means of escape. _"Victory" _he thought confidently.

"And why the hell would you do a thing like that?" she hissed back, but remembered to keep her voice down so they wouldn't be over heard.

"Don't take me wrong here. Even though I am thoroughly enjoying this, my morals" at this point she scoffed but he ignored her and continued anyways "as I said, my morals don't allow me to leave a dame like yourself, in a possible dangerous situation like this." he finished smoothly once more.

"_Humpf! Gentleman my ass!" _she thought indignantly. However her more sensible side was actually considering his offer more seriously. She felt like she was about to make a pact with the devil himself. She was probably going to regret this, but what choice did she have?

"Fine!" she hissed. "What do you want in return?" she asked him suspiciously.

"My, my, why would you think that I would ask for anything in return?" he asked her with that same mischievous glint in his eyes. When she was about to sigh in relief he said "but now that you brought it up so generously…"

Saku wanted to bang her head against a wall, sink through the floor, and strangle him to death all at the same time. Choosing between those wasn't easy, so she settled for holding her breath. She probably didn't want to know it anyways …

"Hum… what to ask for?" he wondered out loud. Couldn't he just get this over with and help her out of her misery? Obviously not… he took his sweet time and even though he knew she hated him for that, it didn't stop him.

Saku was getting slightly more nervous and consciously pulled the towel even closer, if that was at all possible. "Hurry up and name something!" she hissed anxiously looking around at all the spectators that had gathered by now.

He smirked "You know what?" he said as she turned her attention on him with growing dread, "I'll think of something and then I'll collect it later." He winked at her and immediately proceeded with his plan to 'rescue' her, that is, as soon as he thought of one.

"_What did I get myself into?" _she thought with apprehension. God she was screwed…

Syaoran on the other hand was thinking hard. _"Next time you get an ingenious idea, make sure you have all the bases covered before you open your big mouth!" _he thought to himself. _"Lets see… I could always say she lost her mind and escaped the hospital. Nah that wouldn't work. Saying she just wanted my attention wouldn't work either, she'd never go along with that one. Hmm… something believable. This is harder than expected. How about I turn it into something tragic and end it with saying that the poor thing's in shock after she got dumped here naked and well? Not credible enough since there hasn't been anything big going on lately… So then what?" _Syaoran was discarding idea after idea when it hit him. _"Perfect." h_e thought proudly.

"No matter what I do next, just play along" he whispered in her ear urgently. Saku nodded reluctantly and watched his every move anxiously awaiting his 'master plan'.

Syaoran walked off a bit then turned to face Saku with a serious face. "Did you actually expect that he would treat you right?" he asked her with a loud voice. "Did I not warn you for him? Did I not tell you to stay away from him?" Syaoran started dramatically.

What was he up to? Saku had no idea but it couldn't be worse than staying in her current situation right? So she bowed her head in shame. It seemed to fit the new 'circumstances'.

"You shouldn't have run away from home with that…that man!" he spat the last two words as if they were venom. "You could have _told _me you wanted to cancel our engagement!" he yelled starting to sound 'upset'.

Saku's mouth was agape. What the hell did he think he was doing! He was nuts! But before she could start shouting at him, he had closed their distance, and before she knew what he was doing, he had her in a passionate embrace and was gazing deeply into her shocked eyes.

The crowd stared at the scene before them in awe. More and more people started to gather at the town's square in order to watch the entire scene with their own eyes. It wasn't often that things like these happened, especially not with an important person like the Li heir.

"Look where this got you!" Syaoran continued his dramatics. "He used you and finally dumped your naked unconscious form here, in the middle of the square where everyone could have seen you!" he said outraged. "You should be grateful that it was I who found you here, and not some stranger!" To express his concern he hugged her tightly and looked up at the sky for a moment as if it had all the answers.

Saku was having a battle of wills in the meantime. _"Let's kick him where it hurts most! He's hugging you without permission for crying out loud!" "No he's our only ticket out of here, and besides, I already gave him my word!" _Her thoughts turned more violent by the second and she tried her best to ignore them when they started about stringing him up by his balls as soon as they were out of this nasty situation.

In the meantime, Syaoran simply continued his performance, totally oblivious to the very painful thoughts that were currently plaguing Saku's mind. He was currently sitting on his knees, with his right cheek against her abdomen, his eyes closed, and his arms wrapped around her hips. "Don't hate me for who I am" he continued tragically.

Saku had to restrain herself from rolling her eyes at him and instead settled for keeping her face hidden from view. He was so embarrassing!

"You don't know how worried I have been. Endless nights I was awake, skimming through the lands, worrying for your safety. Not even a note was left! All that I had were the bittersweet memories of our last meeting. I know I might not be what you are looking for, but here I am, down on my knees and at your mercy. Ever since I met you, I lost my heart to you…" he held a dramatic pause and the crowed looked on in anticipation, taking in everything he said eagerly.

Their hearts went out to the poor young man. That girl didn't know what she had! She should be ashamed of herself. How could she do those things, to such an obviously kind hearted man? All the murmurs died down when Syaoran continued.

"You hold my very being in the palm of your hand. Do with it what you like, but please come home with me so that your parents can stop their worrying. If it is your wish to cancel our engagement, just say the word and it shall be done…" he ended the last part silently as if it pained him to say such things.

Saku wasn't sure what to say to all the nonsense he had just been sprouting, but figured she might as well please the crowd. "Don't …" she whispered and put her hands tenderly on his shoulders.

"_Great" _she thought silently _"I just lost my mind. There's no other explanation for this, he drove me insane. Oh well the sooner I get this over with, the faster I'm out of here." _She thought and looked down at the idiot who was still kneeling in front of her.

"Don't what?" he asked her, his voice filled with emotion.

"Don't … don't break the engagement…I've learned my lesson. Never again will I do a thing like this. I was being foolish, I ran because I was scared…" she admitted quietly. "I've been betrothed to you since my birth… I didn't even know you! So when the wedding came closer, I got scared and ran… I thought you would be cold hearted, incapable of loving me, and that I would end up like many of those women after they get married… like a forgotten plant in a dusty room…" she fell silent and Syaoran took that as his cue.

He got up and as he did that, he swept her off her feet into his arms. Saku clamped her arms around his neck tightly, silently swearing that if he'd drop her, she'd kill him. "Do not worry that pretty little head of yours any longer. I could never treat _you _that way." He said silently.

"Then please, take me home. I want to see my parents. I've missed them for 6 months." She said dramatically and rested her head against his chest.

"As you wish" and with that he walked over towards the fountain, put her down on the edge and then proceeded to climb up next to her.

"Ladies and gentlemen! I hope you enjoyed this spectacle and thank you very much for watching. Everything you have seen here today was part of a play. This play is a surprise for my mother's oncoming birthday, and me and my partner here, needed some practice with an actual audience. We want to thank you for your support and good day! Oh yeah, I would really appreciate it if you could keep it a secret from my mother." he added as an after thought. That was the last thing he wanted. His mother didn't need to know any of this… With that said, he grabbed Saku by her arm, bowed to their 'audience', grabbed her clothes and left straight for the tavern where his carriage was waiting for him.

"Hurry up, get in there and get dressed." He told her curtly. "Come on now, I don't have much time. I'm already late thanks to you."

He had obviously gone back to his usual self. "… Thanks" she said before he shoved her inside the carriage and closed the door.

Syaoran stood there waiting for her to get dressed, with his arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently; when she asked "Couldn't you come up with anything better than a play? Not to mention one with such a lousy theme as this? And that for your mother's birthday?"

"Hey" he said defensively "I didn't hear you come up with anything better" he mocked.

"Because you said that you could actually help me" she told him sarcastically.

"Well I did get you out of that little predicament of yours now didn't I?" he smirked. It sure felt great being right.

Saku didn't say anything else about that but did ask another question. "Where did you learn to act that way? If I didn't know you're actually an arrogant jerk with an ego bigger than I've ever seen, I might have actually believed that crap".

Syaoran smirked, so she thought he was a great actor eh? _"At least all those stupid acting lessons she made me take, to learn how I was to behave myself in public had some use after all" _he thought remembering how much he had hated those hours he had to spent with Leon, a man he suspected of being actually gay.

Every time he would say something, his hand would make these strange movements, not to mention the way he spoke sounded odd to say the least. Syaoran always made sure he stayed as far away from that man as possible. So to keep him happy, and at a safe distance, he would always try to act exactly as Leon would. The more he exaggerated his movements, the happier Leon seemed to be, and the sooner the lessons were over. _"At least I didn't endure all those hours of torture for nothing" _he thought silently.

"Well?" inquired the now fully dressed girl, as she waved a hand in front of his face, wondering if that act of his had driven him mad.

"Let's just say…" he started but was interrupted by Wei.

"Syaoran-sama, where have you been? I was about to send someone out looking for you!" he exclaimed, the worry was written all over his face.

Saku gasped. She knew that voice! _"Oh god what's he doing here!" _she thought and started to panic. _"As long as he doesn't recognise me I should be fine…" _she tried to reassure herself but that wasn't working very well. She stepped back a bit, making sure to keep Syaoran between herself and the elderly man's view.

"Whom is it that you were talking to, Syaoran-sama? I hope you do realize that if we are to stay here any longer, you will miss your boat. Your mother would be very disappointed with such news, not to mention anything about your uncle. He is an important man and important people shouldn't be kept waiting." he scolded Syaoran in an elderly tone.

Syaoran hung his head slightly and mumbled "I know that Wei-san… it's just that… you see I … err well" he tried to explain what had happened but no words he thought of, could describe it.

Saku who thought it was highly amusing, had walked over to the horses and was petting them lovingly, when she heard the man continue.

"And who is this young Lady, if I might ask Syaoran-sama?" he inquired. This whole time he had been solely focused on Syaoran, scolding him for his current behaviour, and had completely forgotten about the fact that he had found his young master talking to someone.

Saku held her breath wondering if Syaoran was going to say something.

"Oh right, this" he pointed over his shoulder at Saku with his thumb "is a girl I met some days ago." he told Wei nonchalantly.

Wei looked up curiously and when he saw her face, he gasped in recognition. "Milady…" but before he could continue whatever he was going to say, he noticed her waving her arms at him fiercely, trying to tell him not to say anything further. He quirked an eyebrow but respected her wish.

Syaoran, who was watching Wei's expression the whole time, turned around when he saw Wei's surprised expression. It was almost as if he saw recognition flicker in his eyes for a second but he wasn't sure… So instead he turned around and saw Saku making strange moves with her arms, but the moment he turned around she started to wave frantically and said "Hello Mr." as she smiled like an idiot. Sometimes he really wondered about her sanity…

Wei chuckled at her furious attempts to cover up her intentions and smiled at Syaoran when he turned back around and shrugged. "Miss, what business do you have with Syaoran-sama?" he inquired.

Saku was glad he had understood her hint and was grateful that he played along. She assumed that next time she saw him, she had a whole lot of explaining to do, but she didn't mind that.

"I was simply admiring the horse's sir, and when I noticed Mr. Li, err I mean Li-sama, I asked him what their names were. However he spaced out before I ever got the answer." she smiled innocently at the elderly man who smiled back.

"I see" he said in an understanding voice. "Were you going anywhere in particular milady? I am sure ladies like yourself don't get up this early unless they have an important place to be?"

"Well err…" she thought hard. She couldn't tell him the real reason she was up because he knew that one a bit too well. So she had to think of something else. "Actually yes I am. You know that castle in the forest? I have some business to attend to in the area, so that's where I'm currently headed." she was proud of her own fast thinking. Yup that would have to do for now. Obviously her usual morning routine wasn't going to happen today.

"Syaoran-sama, why don't we give the lady a ride since we are going in the same general direction?" Wei asked his young master. "That way you can continue whatever conversation you had and still arrive on time at the docks."

Saku was waving her arms again frantically but the man ignored her. Syaoran however had a shocked look on his face and was about to protest when Wei made another comment. "You don't want anything to happen to a young girl like her do you?" he glanced over at Saku and corrected himself. "Excuse me, I mean to a young lady of course. We all know how dangerous it can be at this time in the forest." he finished with a gentle smile.

"_Leave it up to Wei to make things difficult for me… Great the way he puts it I can't even decline. If he would report that back to my mother I'm done for…" _grumbling several profanities under his breath he inclined his head and silently opened the door to the carriage. He held out his hand to Saku in order to help her get into the carriage. "Milady, if you would allow me" he said with forced politeness, and bowed.

Saku backed away but was friendly shoved towards Syaoran, courtesy of Wei. "Young ladies such as yourself should never decline generous offers as these. After all we are talking about your safety young Miss. Now please hurry up, the master is already late." he told her leaving no room for her to get out of it.

"_Great and here I thought I could finally get away from him" _Saku grumbled silently as she accepted Syaoran's outstretched hand, before Wei would start lecturing her about her manners once more.

"_It's probably his way of punishing me for being late" _thought Syaoran annoyed, not knowing that Saku was thinking along the same lines.

"_He is probably just punishing me for getting Li late, and for making him lie to Li …" _she thought but managed to force a "thank you" out towards Syaoran anyways.

The ride was silent and Saku was glad when they finally arrived at her destination several minutes later. It felt more like hours to her though; all the meaningful looks Wei was giving her, were making her uncomfortable. Not to mention, Syaoran's grumpy face wasn't something she enjoyed watching the entire time; that is she didn't enjoy it if she wasn't the cause of it. It was more fun if she was responsible.

Syaoran had played the gentleman once more and helped her out of the carriage. He then got back in after she had bowed down politely and thanked them for going through the trouble of taking her along with them.

Wei smiled at her and wished her good luck. Syaoran simply grunted something incoherently but she chose to ignore that. _"Finally, alone at last" _she thought gratefully when the carriage disappeared out of sight.

Saku looked around making sure no one saw her, and disappeared behind some bushes, into a tree and climbed over the castle walls. Once inside, she made sure there were no guards around to see her, and proceeded towards her destination.

The castle garden was huge to say the least. It was decorated with many Cherry blossoms; a small creek circled its way around the back of the castle. Little bridges were build here and there in order to cross the creek and venture further into the beautiful gardens. It was very peaceful and it was one of Saku's favourite hiding places. At least it was normally, today something was off. She wasn't sure what it was, but something gave her an eerie feeling.

Saku continued with more caution than she would normally. She followed the flow of the creek, ventured off towards the lake and proceeded towards the waterfall at the back of the garden. Behind that waterfall was a small cave, just big enough for Saku to stash her newly acquired items in.

She took out an old brown bag. It was the first bag she had ever used, in her very first mission. She took out the sword that she had snagged back then and took it out of its sheath. It shone as brightly as it had done on the day she had acquired it. She smiled. She wasn't sure why she had kept it all these years.

She guessed she had just gotten attached to it. After al it had been her very first time, and somehow when they had tried to sell it, she had felt so guilty about it that she had done everything to keep it. For some reason her conscience wouldn't forgive her if she'd let the guys get rid of it. When she told them she wanted to keep it, they had said something about women and their crazy sentiments and now that she thought back, she couldn't blame them. They had been absolutely right.

Ever since then it had been hidden here.

After a few more minutes Saku decided to return home before the guys would notice she had gone out by herself. She descended the slippery rocks faster than she usually did and stepped on a lose rock. It crumbled under her weight and she tumbled towards the floor, hitting her head repeatedly against the rocks. When she reached the floor she turned around and looked up to where she had been standing only moments ago.

"_That's odd… I can't remember any rocks being lose" _and with those thoughts she lost focus and everything went black.

* * *

The day came and went unnoticed to Saku, who had been unconscious almost an entire day. When she woke up, the sun was disappearing behind the mountains again, and it was starting to get cold. To her big surprise she noticed she was in the castle gardens and her first thought was, of what Kai would do to her once he got his hands on her. She must have been gone the entire day. She wasn't sure what she had been doing here, but she did know that she had wanted to be back home before any of the guys noticed her absence. 

"_Sure, worry them even more and they'll strap you to your bed without ever letting you go again! Or of course they could steal a pair of handcuffs and cuff me to Shino…" _she shuddered at that thought. She definitely didn't want that to happen. So without wasting another minute, she rushed back towards the palace walls.

She was still sort of dizzy and the splitting headache wasn't helping her either. In her hurry she tripped over something that she was sure, hadn't been there before and turned around to glare at whatever it was.

Saku gasped when she stared into the lifeless eyes of one of the guards. There was blood everywhere, and to her horror, she had fallen right into it.

The guards head was severed from his body. His body itself was severely damaged as well. Never in her entire life had she seen something so horrifying.

She noticed her foot was still stuck and screamed. Saku was sure that her foot had been stuck in the body's intestines and a wave of nausea hit her. Trying very hard not to hurl she ran away as fast as she could, completely forgetting about her headache and her former dizziness. The only thoughts she had were of getting away from there as fast as possible.

Saku had hoped he was the only one, but luck seemed to be against her as she encountered many more. One had a horribly mangled body, another missed several body parts, while others seemed to have been trying to hold their intestines together before they had actually died.

The castle walls came in sight and Saku started to run even faster. She pushed herself harder and harder, and within no time she had reached them. She climbed up another tree, over the walls and let herself fall onto the floor at the other side of the walls where she hurled.

"This must be my lucky day"

* * *

**AN: **I hope you didn't get turned off by the end of the chapter with the bloody mess and all, but don't worry! It was sort of neccesary for the story. It should be explained soon enough. I do hope you all enjoyed it! Thank you very much for reading and leave me a review -) (after all many reviews makes me a happy author and encourages me to update faster and try harder ;) 

Also please check out my other stories if you haven't done so yet -) I'd love more reviews there :P


	5. Mikado Keito

_Chapter 4: Mikado Keito_

_Disclaimer: _See Prologue

**AN: **Hi everyone! Thank you so much for the reviews everyone! Ok so it took me a while to get this one out and I'm sorry, but it was a pain to write this chapter :S I rewrote it like 5 times, deleted and started all over again, to finally get it sort of to my liking. Then when I thought I was finished, I let my Beta _Lahmikhara (thnx btw) _check it over, and he pointed an obvious something out to me which was sorta important but I forgot all about it so I had to fix that too. But now finally here's the next chapter for Lost Soul! Hope you enjoy! And Kurai as usual thnx for the support and getting me off my butt lol. Now on with the story!

**Warning:** Quick warning, some adult themes in this chapter, so if you aren't old enough to be reading that, or if you're just against it, don't bother reading the chapter :-)

* * *

"This must be my lucky day," said a nasty voice from the shadows. 

The bone chilling voice had Saku frozen to the spot. Her stomach was still doing flip-flops and her head was throbbing worse than it had been doing when she woke up earlier. _"If only I hadn't woken up…," _she thought grimly as she tried to ban all the horrifying images out of her mind.

After she fell down from the rocks - where she usually hid anything that was somehow important to her - lost consciousness and after seeing everything that she'd seen afterwards, she just wanted to go home and nothing else. But it didn't seem like luck was on her side…

Trying to focus she anxiously scanned the area but saw no one. Just in case, she hid herself behind a bush. Still high on adrenaline from her earlier experience, she held her breath and listened intently, willing her ears to pick up anything that would let her know more about the whereabouts of the person who'd spoken only moments ago.

"So we meet at last. Why don't you come out and face me?" said the nasty voice, sounding pleased for some reason.

The voice sent shivers down her spine. "Who are you? How do you know me? What do you want from me?" she asked apprehensively. She flinched at her own voice, in which her fear was painstakingly obvious. Saku tried to swallow the knot that had nestled itself in her throat and waited with bated breath.

"My, my, where are your manners little girl? Didn't your parents ever teach you, that it is very impolite to answer a question with a question?" the person lectured her with a mocking voice as he stepped out of his own hiding place.

To Saku's great dismay, she couldn't get a good look at him, but one thing was for sure. She got some very bad vibes from this guy. She had to think of something, anything to get away from him, but what?

All sorts of crazy thoughts were running through her head as she started to question herself where the man came from, what he wanted from her and more things like that. He couldn't be from the other gang could he? Or worse… was he one of the people responsible for the horrible events that occurred at the castle? Saku's blood ran cold at that thought, and quickly shook her head trying to rid herself of such frightening thoughts and the images that came with them.

With the adrenaline still rushing through her blood, Saku eventually decided to swallow all her fear as best she could, and face the situation bravely. _"Help…" _she thought before she really pulled herself together. She appeared from behind her bush and stopped at a seemingly safe distance away from the creepy man.

She completely ignored his earlier question and asked him once again. "Who are you and what do you want from me?" This time she actually managed to sound a bit more confident.

"So, you finally came out to play…" said the man with glee in his voice and took a step in her general direction.

Saku took a step back, not sure of what the man's intentions were. _"Just forget everything you saw earlier…," _she thought as she tried to calm her raging heart, which currently felt like it had settled itself in her throat and somehow had managed to get stuck there.

It wasn't as easy as it had sounded in her head though. For starters, her head hurt like someone had tried to open up her skull to look inside, and the man in front of her was scarier than any of the stories Shino had ever told her when she was little.

Saku took several deep breaths, hoping that they would help her to calm down enough in order to compose herself once more. _"Just focus on the matter at hand," _she thought determinedly. It wasn't as if this was the first time she had managed to get herself into trouble, even though this time, she wasn't quite sure how this was her fault… As long as she could stay focussed, she should be all right. After all, even the scariest of men should have a weak spot somewhere, right?

"_Just keep your cool and remember what you've learned over the years" _She might have been a girl but that didn't mean she didn't know how to fight. After all, you didn't grow up around 20 male 'role models', or as she called them, her brothers, without picking up a thing or two about fighting. No, they, especially Kai, had made sure she knew how to defend herself, and had learned her all the dirty tricks there were when it came down to fighting. All she had to do was keep her head cool long enough to actually use them.

He slowly started to advance on her, one confident step at a time. Saku threw a fearful glance over her shoulder back at the castle. Going there wasn't an option. She was _not _going back there, no matter what! With that option out of the way, she anxiously looked around her, trying to think of another escape route.

"I see you've found our handy work." he said with pride evident in his voice when he saw her throw a fearful glance back at the castle. "That's what happens when people refuse to cooperate." he told her smirking.

Saku was taken aback by his comment and thanks to that, she didn't notice how far she had backed away from the man, until her back hit the wall, effectively stopping her retreat. He was one of them… he was responsible? She couldn't believe it… things had just gotten worse, much worse.

Her blood ran cold the moment her back touched the wall. _"Oh no!" _she thought starting to panic. What was she supposed to do now? The only thing that came to mind was running … There was only one minor problem to overcome before she could proceed with her carefully laid out plan though… and that was 'how to get past the creepy man who was blocking her only exit'.

It seemed like her best option would be to run past him. Therefore, instead of thinking things through as she should have, she simple went for it. Everything was working out great; accept for one minor detail…

Saku was on the ground trying to catch her breath before she knew what went wrong. Looking up she saw the man looming over her, a big smile on his face, one arm still outstretched, from where she had probably ran into him only moments before.

Slowly, she got up and backed away from him once more. Now that he was this close, she got a very good look at his face. That was anything but comforting… she whished she hadn't seen it. Now more than ever, did she want to run as far away from him as possible.

His face bore a huge scar across his right eye, which wasn't even visible. He approached her and placed his right hand beside her head, and placed his left knee against the wall, effectively trapping her.

"Fancy meeting you here." said the man and started to stroke her face with his free hand. "And where did you think you were going?" he crowed and looked at the disgusted look on her face with glee.

Saku turned her face away from his touch as far as possible. God this was gross. The man was gross! It wasn't just the fact that he grossed her out, but the things he said… the way he seemed to be pleased with the horrifying things she'd seen, but were currently hidden behind the large castle walls… and she was very grateful for that.

"Home…" she said softly and immediately cursed herself for letting the fear creep into her voice once more.

"Oh really? It doesn't look like you're going anywhere to me." he taunted and let his hand travel down to her body, where it made its way to her breast and fondled it. "Feels exactly like I imagined it would feel… so soft." he whispered.

Saku gasped the moment she felt his hand move downward and anticipated where it was going to go next, never really hearing the words he whispered more to himself than anything else. When he started to fondle her breast, she couldn't take it anymore and screamed. She screamed with everything she had in her, even the birds in the trees got a scare and took flight.

With his ear being so near her he stopped momentarily, shook his head trying to get rid of the ringing in his ears and continued with what he had been doing.

Saku was starting to panic. What was she supposed to do? His breath was so close she could feel it against her cheeks. She didn't dare look him in the eye, afraid of what she would find there. Even screaming hadn't made him step back, not even an inch!

She didn't get any time to recover from her shock when his hand finally left her breast alone. Instead, it travelled further downward and came dangerously close to her abdomen…

"Let me go!" she screamed in his ear once more. She no longer cared about showing him whether she was scared or not. All she wanted was to be somewhere else, anywhere else, but here with him.

His hand stopped momentarily and instead he looked at her face as a malicious grin appeared. "Now, now, no need to get so upset," he told her and moved his face even closer to hers. "this isn't going to hurt one bit…" he said with a smirk. "This morning you were chosen and doomed. Your fate is sealed. Now whatever you do… don't scream." and with that said he stuck his tongue out and licked her face.

Saku turned her head away in disgust and tried to push him away with all of her strength. "Leave me alone you creep!" she yelled but the man smirked at her futile attempts.

"No can't do, little girl. Now tell me… I need to know. How does it feel to be helpless? How does it feel to scream for help and know no one's coming to your aid?" he asked her.

"W... what?" Saku asked bewildered. What was that guy talking about? This guy was nuts! However, she could do little. He had a point… not many people ventured to this part of the woods, not at this time of night anyways.

"How does it feel to know that you lack the power to save yourself? Don't you just hate to be as weak as you are?" he continued to ask her, desiring an answer more than anything. "Don't you just hate to be a girl… a woman?" he continued now whispering in her ear.

"Let me go you freak!" Saku yelled and started to hit his chest with everything she had.

"Yes, resist, struggle, show me your fear!" he said sounding thrilled. "Tell me what you feel!" he demanded closing the distance between them even more.

His breath was close enough for her to feel, just like the growing bulge in his pants which was even more unnerving. "Go away, leave me alone; let me go! Help!" she screeched but she knew it was useless. No one would hear her, there was no one around; not a soul, and she knew it… The sinking feeling in her stomach got worse the more she despaired.

"Now why would I let a sweet little kitten such as yourself go?" he asked her and let his eye ravish her body before he forcefully tried to kiss her.

"No! Leave me alone!" she yelled, and out of a reflex, she did something she should've done immediately. She kneed him in the groin and shoved him away from her harshly.

Groaning the man fell back and doubled over in pain. "You wench!" he growled looking at the spot where the girl had been only moments ago, to find that she was gone. "I'll get you for that!"

A string of curses rang through the woods, but Saku couldn't care less. The moment the man had dropped to his knees to hold his precious balls, she took the opportunity and slipped passed him. She didn't dare look over her shoulders, afraid that she'd trip and end up on the floor. Afraid that he'd catch up to her…

Her breath was coming in ragged gasps and the stitches in her sides were only getting worse, but she didn't dare stop. She had to get away. To make things worse, her head started to throb much worse than it had done so far. She reached up and touched the painful spot, only to find dried up blood there. Her panic didn't allow much room for thinking so she shrugged it all off and focussed on running.

"Get back here you little wench!" The man yelled. It took him about a minute to get over the initial pain and give chase after the girl.

Scared out of her wits she started to run faster and faster, ignoring the stitches in her sides and not much later, she arrived at the edge of the forest. _"Come on Saku, just a little further and you'll be home safe!" _she thought trying to encourage herself.

Upon reaching the town, Saku ran blindly into one street after another. All she knew was that she had to get away from that guy. She didn't want to think about what would happen if he got his hands on her again, and with that in mind, she strained herself even more.

She turned another corner, looked back over her shoulder to make sure he wasn't still following her even though she had told herself not to look back, and ran smack into something hard. _"Damn that hurt," _she thought as she rubbed the bump on her forehead. _"I just had to look back didn't I!" _she thought angrily.

"What the hell...?" she heard from whatever it was she ran into. A wooden door opened and when she looked up, she saw a large carriage in front of her.

"_Like the throbbing in my head wasn't bad enough without me running into something." _she thought trying to get up but being to dizzy to do so.

"Here, let me give you a hand." said a strangely familiar voice as he offered her his hand.

Saku gladly accepted the help for once and got up, still slightly dizzy but she managed to hold her own.

"Thank you." she said and started to dust herself off.

The man in front of her waited to see if she was truly alright. He had noticed the wound on her head which didn't look too good. When she looked up in the face of her savour she gasped, while he tried to get a better look. "You? Great, this is just great! Of all the people I could've ran into, it just had to be you! I could've been well on my way by now, miles away, but here I am stuck with you!" she snapped.

"And to think that you were happy to see me only moments ago." he said shaking his head at her. "But here I am, helping you to get up generously and I don't even get a thank you in return." he said with mock disappointment. He'd have to ask her about that wound later.

Syaoran was amused to say the least. It wasn't often that a girl would actually complain about being in his company. Well make that never, he was a perfect gentleman and he knew how to please a lady, thank you very much.

"But yes, I totally agree." he said suddenly with a gleam in his eyes. "You could've been running,"

"Yes!" Saku agreed not really giving him the chance to continue what he was saying.

"But instead you're stuck with me. Just like last time." he said with a contemplative look on his face.

"Yes, exactly!" Saku agreed hastily, not bothering to really listen to him.

"And you missed me so much that you just had to see me again. In fact your need was so great, that you just had to run into my carriage to get my attention." he told her in a matter of fact tone, bearing a smug look on his face.

"Yes!... I mean no! What is wrong with you! Idiot! Does it look like I'm throwing myself at your feet!" she said but instantly regretted it when she saw that coy look on his face.

"Hmm, as a matter of fact, you did throw yourself at my feet. After all you were the one on the floor only moments ago, were you not?" he asked her with the most innocent voice he could muster.

"Argh! Just shut up and leave me alone! I don't have time to play any of your mind games right now!" she yelled and was about to start running once more when he reached out for her wrist and hauled her against his carriage.

"Don't leave me already. It was just starting to get fun Milady." he told her and pinned her against his carriage.

Okay, not the most subtle way to get a closer look at that head wound but it worked, and she wouldn't be any wiser. The blood was already dried up. Good at least she didn't get it from running into his carriage. But then where did she get it?

"What are you, mad? Does it look like I enjoy this sort of violence? Besides how many times do I have to tell you, it's Saku. Saku! Not milady or whatever else you can think of." she said sounding exasperated that he wouldn't let her go. "Besides weren't you going somewhere this morning?" she asked suddenly looking thoughtful.

It was tempting to say that it looked like she _did _enjoy that sort of violence when he looked at her head injury but he refrained himself. Instead he answered her question.

"Why yes I was. I must praise you for your memory, I knew you cared deeply for me. You are even expressing your concern for my business, I'm touched milady, I honestly am." he said giving her a coy smile. "But as you may or may not already know, things don't always go the way they are planned. And sadly enough by the time I finally got at my destination, my boat was already gone, thanks to certain… complications." he said giving her a meaningful look.

Ok so that wasn't the entire truth since his ship had taken a detour to avoid the storm but she didn't have to know that.

Saku looked unimpressed. "Aww too bad you missed it." she replied.

"No need for the sarcasm milady." he told her and rolled his eyes at her.

Saku looked ready to explode. Why couldn't he at least _try _to remember her name? Was it that difficult? Well considering whom she was talking to she guessed she had to accept that he wouldn't understand it, even if his life depended on it. After all not everyone was fortunately blessed with an actual IQ…

"You know, that wasn't sarcasm," she told him pointedly after she managed to cool down enough not to blow up at him once more. "I was actually serious. It _is _a shame that you missed that boat of yours."

At that comment he looked at her surprised. Was she serious? But then she continued…

"It's too bad for me. If you hadn't missed your boat, you wouldn't be able to continue harassing me! I would be well on my way, and I would've never ran into that stupid carriage of yours!" she finished yelling at his face and reached up to rub the bump on her head out of habit..

"You know, for someone who's been nice enough to save you from a trip to jail, you're not being very grateful." he said sounding hurt.

All Saku did was quirk an eyebrow at him, wondering what he was talking about.

"Don't tell me you already forgot your little adventure at the fountain this morning… bathing?" he exclaimed astonished. Really how could someone forget something like that, so easily?

"Ah that…" was all she said and turned a nice shade of red. _"Maybe that was what that creep was talking about when he mentioned this morning…" _she thought and froze. Immediately she started to struggle against Syaoran's grip.

Let gofmm…-" she started to yell but before she could finish yelling at him he'd already covered her mouth with his hand.

"Shht!" he whispered urgently looking serious all of a sudden.

Saku was more than annoyed now. What did this Li guy think he was doing? Holding his hand over her mouth and shushing her.

By now, she was convinced that he had lost it and was just trying to come on to her. She was about to knee him, followed by a nice sucker punch, but to her great dismay, he was prepared for her. She was getting so worked up that she didn't even hear anything he was saying, or noticed the things going on around her.

Behind them, someone else had joined the bickering duo.

* * *

"Where's the boy?" Lord Kon asked his eyes holding an eager look on the doors, which were staying empty to his great annoyance. 

"There is a storm raging. The boat had to take a detour and won't arrive for another couple of days." said the Captain looking calmly at the by now fuming Lord.

"A storm? And exactly why are they going around it? No one's ever died from a little gust of wind and a little bit of water before, let them go through it." the Lord sneered dissatisfied.

"The storm has already killed the crew of several other ships who got caught in the storm. If you want that boy to arrive here quickly, going around the storm will be the faster way." the Captain said a solemn look gracing his features.

Lord Kon was anything but happy with this news but agreed to it eventually anyways. Anything was better than that boy not arriving at all. After all he needed someone else in China to do his bidding… besides that bloke Keito. He was too expensive for his liking… Then again anyone whom required paying was too expensive for his taste, at least the boy would work for free. His family owed him.

Lord Kon turned back to his Captain. "How are things going in China?" he asked looking expectantly at the Captain.

"Yes Milord. Everything is going according to plan. According to the messenger we sent she hasn't been found yet, but our man is on it. He also agreed to your terms." the Captain finished and bowed.

"Good. That's very good Captain. I knew you'd come through in the end. Now where is Yue?" the Lord asked his mood lightened quite a bit.

"He is still working on that little errand you send him on Milord. I'll send for him right away." the Captain said and was about to walk away when Lord Kon stopped him.

"That won't be necessary Captain. I'll just send someone else to the kitchen then. You go and ask what's taking them so long with my diner. I'm starving!" the Lord yelled back in his usual grouchy demeanour.

The sweat drop which had formed on the back of the Captain's head went unnoticed by Lord Kon. "As you wish Milord." he said, bowed down and left the throne room in a rush.

If that little princess wasn't found soon, she'd mess up all his plans. He had taken care of her brother long ago, and her guardian wasn't a problem either. But with the princess still missing, he just couldn't rest. There was too much at stake.

"Find her damn it!" the Lord yelled frustrated at the first person who dared to enter.

The poor servant boy who came carrying the food for the Lord, was so frightened that he dropped the food and scrambled away from the Lord as quickly as he possibly could. He silently hoped that the said Lord, would never figure out exactly who it was that had dropped that tray of food on him.

A string of curses was heard through the entire castle, but no one was in the slightest bit surprised. It was a daily occurrence.

* * *

Syaoran had clapped a hand over her mouth the moment he had sensed another person's presence. The man gave off an extremely evil aura. Shutting the girl up seemed like the only thing he could do at the time. Who knew? Maybe the girl would've screamed for help or something else, and would have gotten them in trouble. After all it didn't look to good from someone else's point of view. Here he was, the Li heir, pinning a girl with a head injury against the carriage… She seemed to have a special talent of dragging him into the strangest kinds of things anyhow. 

"Why thank you my good man," said the man looking mischievously at the girl who was trapped between the carriage and Syaoran, successfully ending their bickering.

Okay so much for staying unnoticed. Maybe if he just replied and stayed polite he'd go away. "And who might you be?" Li asked with his back still turned.

Saku who had been oblivious to the newcomer, went ridged in his grip the moment she heard his voice. He had caught up to her. She had been so caught up in her bickering with this Li person, that she had momentarily forgotten that she had barely escaped from the scar faced man and now it was too late. He had her right where he wanted her… Trapped.

Syaoran on the other hand noticed, that the moment the man made his presence known, the girl's entire being had gone rigid and she was currently staring at the man with a fear struck expression. Maybe he was responsible for the injury? He decided to turn around and had to do a double take at what he saw. That was the ruffian! He was the man from the docs! No wonder the girl was scared of him… every sane person would be.

But what did he want with this girl? Could she have anything to do with that whole assassination thing they'd been talking about? Or maybe she was the one they were trying to kill? If the head injury was any indication, he'd go for the latter. One thing was for sure, this girl knew more about this whole deal and he was going to find out what. The cold but smooth voice from the stranger snapped him out of his train of thoughts.

"Mikado, Mikado Keito is the name." the man said in reply to Syaoran's earlier question, and he bowed his head ever so slightly by sort of greeting. "You have just saved me a whole lot of trouble, young man. I was afraid I wouldn't catch her anymore but here she is, safe and well."

"Why would you care for the safety of this Lady?" Syaoran asked cleverly masking his face with indifference. "After all she is but a woman. There's plenty more where she came from." he said sounding casually.

Saku's head spun around and glared at the back of Li's head. _"How could he say something like that!"_ she thought enraged.

She was already planning his very painful and slow death when she noticed his grip on her tighten. She tried to free herself but his grip was too firm. Firm enough for it to start hurting. Why couldn't he just let her go? Was it that difficult to understand that she wanted to get away from that man? Sure he had already noticed the bad vibes the man gave off? He wouldn't…. just hand her over to him would he? Was that the reason he wasn't letting her go? God she hoped not….

The man laughed at Syaoran's words. "Why yes I'm sure there's plenty more where she came from… But the moment I laid my eyes on her, I knew she was, how should I say this,… special." the man said giving Saku an almost malicious smirk.

The moment the words left the man, Syaoran snorted. "Special? Yeah she's special alright. She talks back when she's not supposed to, she puts up a fight instead of bowing her head down and apologising and she acts like a guy. Not to mention she has very … peculiar bathing habits." Syaoran said disdainful.

"Ah yes… her bathing habits." he said as a sly smirk spread across his face.

Saku by now had horror written all over her face. It was bad enough that Li had caught her there, but this Keito person had seen her too! At least now she knew what he had been referring to when she first ran into him… So that's how he knew her.

"I have to agree with you though, she is a feisty one." Keito said with an almost appreciative tone of voice.

"You know of her bathing habits?" Syaoran said and quirked an eyebrow at the man.

"Why yes, with me being her fiancé, you'd think I'd know about her peculiar habits, don't you agree?" he said with a sly smile. "Besides it's not like everyone else didn't get a good view of her." he muttered under his breath, but both Saku and Syaoran caught every word of it.

How had this girl managed to get herself involved with a man like that? That Keito person… He smelled like blood, and not just because Syaoran had overheard him talking about assassination earlier. His entire being screamed battlefield all over.

"Her fiancé?" Syaoran said more than asked.

"That's right, her fiancé." Keito said with a satisfied smirk, already congratulating himself on his own brilliance.

"So do you always have this affect on women?" Syaoran asked.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about Mr…. I'm sorry but I didn't catch your name the first time." Keito said.

"I never gave you my name." Syaoran replied shortly. "But if you must, you can call me Li." Syaoran said with a tone of superiority. "And I was simply referring to the fact that you had to give chase after your fiancé…" he said a bit slower than necessary.

At this Keito quirked an eyebrow; the only one he had left in fact; "Li? The Li family?" Keito asked interested. "You're from the Li family who're second only to the emperor himself?"

Li smirked. "I take it you've heard from my family." he said his arrogance once again resurfacing.

"Why yes, who hasn't. So tell me, how is your father doing these days?" Keito asked with another one of his malicious smirks showing.

"My father? My father died many years ago… What's it to you?" he asked with growing suspicion.

If possible the smirk on Keito's face only grew wider. "Yes, that's right… You look like him. Just as arrogant… You're the heir are you not?" he asked sounding interested.

"You knew my father?" Syaoran asked uncertain. Why would his father have known dark figures as this Keito person?

"Only briefly I'm afraid. Now hand over the girl… my fiancé, I have some unfinished business with her." Keito said with that same malicious grin he had been carrying the entire time.

Saku, who had followed the entire conversation closely, afraid that Li would hand her over to the man had other things on her mind. For some reason she thought that maybe Li's father had died at the hands of this man, just like all those other people back at the castle… She shuddered at the thought. That action made Li turn around and look at her.

"Don't hand me over, please." she mouthed hoping he knew what she was saying, and kept looking at him with those big, scared, pleading eyes.

"No need to beg my dear, I'll take you off his hands in a second." Keito replied enjoying every second of it.

"You say she's your fiancé… Do you have any claims on her?" Li asked and Saku could've smacked him, if she wasn't too worried about seeing another day she would have.

"As a matter of fact, yes I do hold claims over her. I saw her father this morning and everything has been arranged. Now hand her over. I hate to be kept waiting." Keito said growing rather impatient and threw a meaningful look at Saku. This brat was in the way of his fun and he didn't like it one bit.

"Don't make him any angrier than he already is!" she whispered urgently in Syaoran's ear, but he simply ignored her.

"That's odd. Her father died the same time mine did. Don't you think it's rather strange that you seem to know so much about my family, and yet you don't seem to recognise my own sister?" Syaoran said a challenging look in his eyes.

"Damn brat!" Keito muttered under his breath in a foreign language.

"I'd be careful with the things you say around me, sir Mikado." Syaoran replied in the same foreign language. "There might be others around that can actually understand Japanese." he said arrogantly.

"He's dangerous! You don't want to make him angry!" she whispered. She could smack him for being so arrogant. Didn't he see the man was dangerous? He had an entire massacre on his name for crying out loud! But if he wasn't scared of this man… Did that mean that she was supposed to be afraid of him instead? And why could she understand them, if she grew up in China, without ever learning Japanese in the first place?

* * *

**AN: **Few okay that was a shorter chapter than most my chapter so far, but I think this was a good point to break it off. I hope it wasn't boring and I hope you all enjoyed it :-) Don't forget to leave me a review, or two or more ;) lol they're SO motivating! But I think all you other author's out there know exactly what I mean :)  



End file.
